By Any Other Name
by Xalan
Summary: What happened after the Fall of the Ziggurat, and to everyone else? My take on what happened next! (Updates: And yes, quite a while later here comes chapter eight. Read! Another long one, and sorry about the spacing, the computer won't let me fix it. :P )
1. Default Chapter

Chapter onep  
  
Ever tried to put a robot together? No? Well, let me tell you, it's hard. Difficult, frustrating, next to impossible and tedious would be some other words that come to mind.  
  
Who am I? I'm Kenichi Ban, nephew of the great detective (okay, maybe not as great as that) Shazanuken Ban. I'm originally from Japan, but for the past two years I've lived on and off in Metropolis. I say on and on, since I am only 16 at the moment and most people don't go for a 16 year old living by himself. Except maybe in Zone 2, where not many people notice or care, but, I get lonely on my own too. I'm a people person, which is one of the reasons I'm here at the moment.  
  
Tima. I met her two years ago, when I was here in Metropolis for the first time with my uncle on a case. We were trying to locate Dr. Loton, whom was wanted in several counties for organ possention and thief. We'd arrived at the scene of a fire down in zone 2, which we'd gotten to by the help of Pero, a police robot who'd been assigned to help us around the city, and to find the Dr. Loton. When my uncle and I figured out that the lab was that of the infamous Dr, we rushed in, to find him. My uncle found Dr. Loton. I found Tima.  
  
In what followed, I became friends with the girl, whom was about my age, but couldn't remember who she was, or where she came from, as we tried to stay out of the path of Rock, a Murduk who started shooting and chasing us all of the sudden for no visible reason. I guess I kindda got fond of her, she seemed so sweet and child-like, and she really did need my help in that city.  
  
But when we got catch up in the revolution, lead by Atlas, and got separated, thanks to Rock, and Duke Red, things just went to hell. To put in shorthand, Tima was a android created by Dr. loton for Duke Red, in the image of his own dead daughter, to sit on the throne of the Ziggurat (big tower) and to rule the world. But when Rock, dressed as the maid no less, tried to kill Tima once and for all (I found out later from my uncle that Rock was Duke Red's foster son, and one reason that he was trying to kill off Tima and I was because he was jealous of Duke Red's attentions towards Tima, and some others, but..) She lost control of her emotions and fused with the Ziggurat, and tried to kill off the human race, in punishment for "toying with robots." It was one of the most surprising moments in my life when I realized that Tima was a robot, and what she was built for. When she sat on that throne, she seemed so different from the Tima that I'd spent the past couple days with, helping, teaching, trying to protect.  
  
And there was no way I was gonna just let her get absorbed by that throne.  
  
I really thought I could save her. When she fell from the tower, I was numb. I still don't really know how I survived the fall of the Ziggurat; everything was in a daze after that.  
  
That's why I'm here, why I keep coming back. Tima deserved to live, to experience life beyond those few days that she had, to know that there are better people in the world, just to be alive. That's why I'm rebuilding her, why every time I get frustrated, feel that it's just too complicated, and believe me, it is, I'm no mad scientist, I think of why I'm doing it. You see, part of it is, I want Tima back. I want my friend back with me. I want to talk to her again, help her with her writing, and her wording, to see her alive and awake, her bright grassy-green eyes open and bright with the wonder of life and things around her. You see, I think I'm a little bit in love with her.  
  
  
  
  
  
iWell, there's the first chapter, told from Kenichi's point of view, which was a bit hard, trying to keep him in character! Ack! Heh, I'm a Kenichi/Tima fan, and I just kept thinking about what happened after wards. And yes, I'm actually going somewhere with this(/i 


	2. Chapter Two: an Interesting Request

By Any other Name Chapter two: An Interesting Request(s)  
  
Notes: Ah, more notes! I rewrote chapter two as you can see, mostly because I came back and an saw little thing wrong. So, here we go, and, once again, I spelled things wrong. New idea, let's see how many ways Xalan can mis-spelled Shusaku Ban's name! And now, back to your original notes: Kenichi was a bit out of character, but as I write more about him, hopefully I'll get a better feel for him, although I don't think I'll keep writing from his point of view. (It's Harrrrrrrrrd! *whines*) Also, I didn't really want to thrown in that last line of the last chapter, but it just walked right on. Horrible when your fanfics take over. And Kenichi's age. He and Tima looked only about 14 in the movie! My thought is, if 14 year old boys can pilot giant Gundum suits, then two 14 years old can certainly run around the city by themselves, and get into all that trouble they got into. And I didn't think Atlas died, just because someone stops talking and slumps over doesn't mean they've kicked the bucket. Soooo, he reappears! With some more sensible ways of going about things... And I'll just stop talking now....  
  
  
  
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The desk clerk had his feet propped up on the desk. It was a slow night as usual, and while there were only about three people staying at the motel (which rooms were actually the living compartments of trains) so he mine as well get in a couple naps. Comfortable in his over-stuffed, and ripped in various places, chair, he was about to drift off to sleep when that young boy walked by. Half way opening one eye, he nodded towards the boy, noted the lad went straight to his room, and fell back into slumber.  
  
  
  
Back in the room, Kenichi spread out the various manuals he'd found in an older bookstore across Zone 2. Digging through the bag laying next to the make-shift table, he pulled out all the notebooks, manual, books and disks that he's collected over the past two years, back when he'd first realized that he'd need knowledge of robots and mechanics if he ever wanted even a chance of rebuilding Tima. The more he learned though, the more hopeless it seemed. Dr. Loton had been a genius, and had owned a whole lab of sophisticated equipment at his hands. And while he, Kenichi, had nothing but the parts of Tima that Fi-fi and the other robots had helped him find over time while the debris from the Ziggurat was removed.  
  
Glancing around the room however and he felt his sprits rise just a bit. His uncle and he had stayed here for his first night in Metropolis, and he'd later found out that Tima and his uncle had stayed there for a short while. And, while he came and went, Kenichi always felt just a little bit less homesick and lonesome here. Closer to his uncle and to Tima. A small smile flickered acrossed his face with that thought.  
  
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It was an odd case, that part was certain. In the small room he used as an office in his apartment, Shanazku Ban looked several times through the yellow manila envelope and the papers that had come inside of it that had ended up in his mail box earlier that day. The whole room was stifling hot, even with the small fan on the corner of the desk blowing back and forth. Summer in certain parts of Japan weren't always pleasant, and this day was no exception. The people he could see from the third story room were barely moving, or trying to find shade. Not a good day to be out and about, or to try and concentrate on a puzzling case.  
  
He'd just wrapped up one, a brother trying to find a sister, and was currently in the middle of another, a political matter, that was currently taking up much of his time. But this..this was just odd.  
  
When he'd returned from Metropolis, two years ago, he'd filled out a report, and sent it, along with newspaper clippings confirming Dr. Loton's death, to his current client then, the Ocean's End Research Association, rather known as O.E.R.A. He'd been paid, and that was that. But now, here, on his desk, was letter requesting his services once again, and in just as an odd a manner as before. This time, they wanted Dr. Luaghton's notes. Not just his manchical notes, but the biological ones, concerning organ transplant, growth, and placement.  
  
To many, it would have seemed like a natural request. If it had not come two years later, AFTER the case had been closed and paid for. And the amount they were willing to pay, for both the recovery of the notes, and for secrecy about the matter. That worried the Japanese detective. Before, they'd been quite willing to go about the matter without any worry of discretion, but now, in order just to get some notes..  
  
His other cases could wait for the moment. This had his full attention now, and when Shanazku Ban had his mind caught on something, he had to go through with it. He'd gather the necessary background information needed, including some on this Ocean End's Research Association, and update his passport to Metropolis, the last known city of Dr. Luaghton's excursions.  
  
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Sighing as he sat back in his chair, Samuel Oshko rubbed his forehead wearily. He'd been catching hell all day from the others. The Committee had been very adamant about having those reports in, and the inspections done. And now, with the recent disaster, it was going to take a hell of a lot of effort to straighten things out. And with Dr. Kabyo in the hospital, and Dr. Meiiki missing, not to mention the object that this whole mess was over, yes, things were going very badly indeed.  
  
The silvery-grey haired man sighed again. He was going to need to help falling asleep tonight, was his line of thought as he reached for the small vital of sleeping pills in the bottom drawer of his desk.  
  
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A knock on the door made Kenichi look up from his studies. Hastily pushing all of the manuals and books into the book bag at the foot of the table, and pushing it under, he shoved open the door the see a taller, brown haired youth standing there. Atlas. Grinning, for all the fact that Atlas was advent about disliking robots, he was a good person and friend, Kenichi greeted him.  
  
"Atlas! I thought you'd be gone for a while now!"  
  
Grinning back, the brown eyed young man replied, "Yeah, we leave tomorrow, to declare our position to the Board of Robots and Humans Rights Association. The flights got bumped down, so, Metropolis is stuck with us for one more day." Glancing around, "hey, aren't you gonna let me in, or something?"  
  
Flushing reds, Kenichi nodded vigorously, and pushing the door open forth, lead Atlas to the table in the middle of the small room. Having been there before, Atlas made no comments about the papers scattered all over. Pulling an additional chair over, Kenichi sat down at the other side.  
  
Atlas being Atlas, went straight to the point. Leaning over, brown eyes earnest, "Kenichi, how'd you like to come to Baventor with us?" At the younger boy's startled exclamations, he leaned back and grinned, "I've thought it all out. We're going to have to argue our position on the rights of the humans, and the robots taking over all the jobs, and the situation that has stayed the same here in Metropolis, even after all of the promises made. And I've got all the points marked out. But, we're going to need the perspective of an outsider, no hard feelings meant, sorry, to really make our point. And you were there through all of it, Kenichi. Everyone likes and trusts you, so there won't be any hard feelings in that area. It could only help us. Now, what do ya say to that?"  
  
Speechless, Kenichi just stared at him.  
  
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Well, there's the second chapter! Yay, I'm actually writing! *does the happy dance* I'm working on the next chapter as we speak, so that should be up soon too. Thanks to Reaalis for her review! *hugs* It'll probably be a while before Tima comes into the picture, but I've been practicing writing her out, to she'll be partly in character at least. Anyways, that's all from me, reviews please? I'm human, I like them too! *puppy eyes* 


	3. Information and Plans

By Any Other Name  
  
Chapter Three: Information and Plans  
  
Written by: Xalan  
  
Notes: Wheeee, chapter three! Go me! Thankies for all of the reviews, love them (and the help and for the things people have pointed out!)! ( I'm going to try to start making my chapters a little longer from now on, and in this, I tried to show a little of what's been going on in Metropolis, and such. Anyways, I have nothing more to say, so on with the story!  
  
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The flight to Metropolis was delayed only a couple hours, giving Shunsuku Ban amble time to gather and look through the various amount of information he'd discovered. The Ocean's End Research Association was a small organization founded 25 years ago, by a Dr. Samuel Oshko, a Dr. Minii Kabyo, and a Dr. Jizanda Mieeki. The three were geniuses in their various fields of work, Dr. Mieeki a schooled and very well to do Surgeon, and Dr. Kabyo an infamous pathologist. Dr. Samuel Oshko however, had been an extremely talented and wealthy biologist. The three had been involved on several projects in the States working on organ reproduction, for those needing instant organ transplants.  
  
For reasons not yet uncovered, the three had banded together, and putting both their money, influences and minds together, founded OERA. Five years later asking in serval respected, and well off, surgeons, biologists, Doctors, and several others. Since that time, the activities of the OERA had faded from the public eye, mentioned at times when one of their milti-billion research labs had found a new way to safely reproduce organs, or reactivate dead nerve endings.  
  
The contentions to why they would've wanted Dr. Luaghton, or his notes, were purely speculation, and yet, very possible. Working with organs, perhaps in the past Luaghton had provided them with organs to work on, and from. Or maybe he'd stolen organ research from them, which would explain why they'd wanted to track Luaghton down, but why would they want his notes?  
  
That thought hit him at every ending, there was just no answer to that. Absently he wondered why he was taking so much interest in this, and why he had to know why. To answer, he really didn't know. It just seemed so odd to him, and hell, the last time something had seemed odd to him...  
  
A voice coming on over the intercom informed the passengers in the lounge that flight 487 was now ready to board. The short Japanese detective gathered up his carry-ons, and remembering the last time he'd left for the great city of Metropolis on a similar case, stepped onto the ramp to the plane.  
  
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The brown haired woman with the arm in a sling was nudged awake by a young, blue haired girl. Coming to with a start, the woman's blue eyes glanced around with a worried air. "The plane..they're letting people board now." The girl pointed out in a quite, Swedish accented voice. The woman noted that the girl's accent had changed once again, no doubt as a result of being among people from Sweden, she'd had little or no accent from the days she'd spent with her, quite like her own voice.. Struggling to her feet, Jizanada looked wearily around the terminal. It was hard to believe that she'd slept through the 4 hour delay as their flight switched, but, she hadn't had a decent night's sleep in a while, and she was getting older. A fact that pointed itself out every time she looked in a mirror. The frown cresses on her forehead and around her eyes came from years of squinting through her glasses at tiny print, or from putting up with closed-minded people. Turning, Jizanda noticed that the girl had gotten their carry-on bags, the only bags; they had, and was walking towards the boarding pass, with a quite, brisk pace. Groaning a little to herself at the pain that movement was starting to cause, the tall ash-brown haired woman walked swiftly to catch up with the girl.  
  
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Atlas could see his younger friend was more than a little bit surprised by his request. The wideness of Kenichi's brown eyes, (they kept changing from brown to red in the movie! So, I'm just going with brown, k?) not to mention the boy's jaw dropping about a foot, told him that Kenichi had never thought of going along with Atlas and the others to Belovbor, a smaller city just on the coast of the large island that the city, and state of, Metropolis resided; where they would have to stand case in front of a panel to argue the human rights and robots having jobs that humans in the lower zones desperately needed.  
  
The hopes that with the fall of the Ziggurat and the death of President Boon, that jobs would be restored, and robots put on a back burner, were crushed with the rising of new politicians to the political arena, taking the places of those left by the deaths the cold war, and the fall of the Ziggurat caused. Rations had been cut off completely in the chaos that had followed, and robots being used to repair much of the damaged done. The fact that it was much safer and quicker to use robots to repair such damage was overlooked for the most part.  
  
And, with a couple more years under his belt, and one completely failed revolution, Atlas had decided to play by the politicians rules, and fight fire with fire. (Which is kinda stupid really, because you fight fire with water, but.?) He and those that had survived the failed revolution, and the fall of the Ziggurat, had banded together once more, but this time, worked from within the political arena. They done it once before, with Lamp, and President Boon in trying to over throw Duke Red, but that had ended in disaster. Now, they would work with one of their own people in office.  
  
Jihad Shov, a young man who'd had fair wealthy parents in Metropolis, and actually seemed to care for the well-being of his fellow man, had worked with them, and for them in office as Governor of Metropolis, an older office used before Metropolis the city had grown so large, and a Governor was used as a care-taker of the State of Metropolis. But when the City had grown, the Mayor's position became used for that, and the Governor's office was pushed back, with the recent crisis however, the office was pulled back into commission, and young Jihad had been there to fill it. With him behind the Revoliontists, their voice had become heard, and eventually, the case was brought up by the Board of Human and Robotic Rights, located in the smaller city of Belovbor.  
  
Kenichi's thoughts finally stopped running together, and he was able to gather them as he started to speak. "Atlas.I..I don't really think that I matter that much to how the Panel will decided in the end, and doesn't it usually take a long time, and I can't be gone that long, and I!" He paused as he realized his words were making little sense to either him or to the older brother haired youth. "Atlas, what I mean is, I'm working on something important. I can't just leave. I don't think I'd help that much either..."  
  
The older youth shook his head, "not so Kenichi!" He beamed, "it would help our cause if we had a different voice. They'll be able to count on you to recite the facts as they are, with a different point of view. You've been in Metropolis long enough now that you understand how it works, and why, but you still have that innocent, fresh way of looking at it. And we need that." He shrugged, and added, "You won't have to stay that long either. Just long enough for the Panel to hear you, and you options, and you'll be off, back here! That won't be so bad, will it?"  
  
Nodding hesitantly, Kenichi replied, "Yes..I..suppose it wouldn't. And I really do want to help you guys out.."  
  
Smiling broadly, Atlas slapped him on the back, "that's the way to think of it! I told the guys we could count on ya Kenichi!" Wincing a bit from the back pounding, Kenichi smiled back, he did owe Atlas and the other favors, they'd helped him get around a lot in the city after awards, and helped him out. It was only right that he try to do the same, even if it meant delaying his work on Tima for a while. And hey, at least he could study the manuals while he was away.  
  
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The detective had the flight tray out and was studying the various papers he's brought along with him, his carry on case stuffed under his seat. He'd been working fairly diligently on the files since the plane had taken off, and had covered a bit of paper he hadn't before. Supposedly, Dr. Luaghton had been involved with the O.E.R.A. before. He's been commissioned by them 16 years ago to build a robotic brain, on the terms that the part be built within seven months. As far as he could find, such had been done so, and dealing with him had ceased. No complaints had ever been voiced against him by the organization, except in past years at his organ trafficking and usage, which everyone had protested. What the brain had been used for, or even any real details on it were extremely limited.  
  
Sighing, he leaned back into the chair, rubbing his temples. All of this could give a person one hell of a splitting headache!  
  
Looking around him, as was his nature to observe things and detail surrounding him as any detective worth his mettle did, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The man in front of him in a suit was reading, the couple behind had two small children, whom were fascinated by watching the ocean past under the wing of the plane. The elderly man next to him was sleepy, as was the older woman across from him. The blue haired girl sitting next to the brown haired woman had her legs pulled up and crossed in the seat, flight tray and laptop out, and seemed interested in whatever she was reading.  
  
Almost sensing him looking over, the head turned halfway, and grey eyes regarded him with the air of a child trying to make his elders believe he is serious. Slightly surprised, Shunsaku smiled back, tipping his hat as he was accustom to doing. Blinking, the girl stared back, and then, a ghost of a smile, and she went back to whatever it was she'd been reading before.  
  
Turning back to his own work, Shunsaku Ban wondered briefly what his nephew Kenichi was doing, and how his work at rebuilding Tima was coming along.  
  
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Well, there it is! Tell me what you liked; what you think needs to be fixed, and anything else that comes to mind! Remember, I try to improve from what people tell me in reviews, so any help is very much appreciated!  
  
And now, site plug! My Metropolis fan page is now up and running! You can visit it at http://www.geocities.com/xalan_met/index.html I'm also looking for any fan fictions, fanart, humor and or thing else you have to donate to this page, so, please, email me anything you have! 


	4. Chapter Four: The Cards are laid

By any Other Name  
  
Chapter Four: The cards are placed  
  
Written by: Xalan  
  
Notes: WOW! Chapter four! That's farther than anything else I've written as of the past couple years. I'm pretty thrilled about that. Hnnnn, as for actual notes this time, not much. Worked a little bit with Kenichi past, since I thought it odd no one ever mentioned HIS parents, or that Shunsaku would let him stay behind in Metropolis without asking his parents, so, playing around with some ideas for that. And, sorry about Atlas being so out of character, I'm working on that..... Also, slowly working through the slower parts and things should be getting a little bit more interesting, so just work with me people. Alright then, on to the story!  
  
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Shunsaku Ban grabbed his carry-on bag as the passengers exited the plane, having landed without complications in Metropolis International Airport. The plane ride had been uneventful, which for the most was how he liked his trips in air planes, and he'd managed to get a bit of work done. Not much more information had been uncovered, but, he was sure of his ability to work it out in the end. Now, he had to find the notes of the late Dr. Luaghton, make some copies of the red notebook Kenichi had, and return back to Japan, although, he was considering a side trip to Europe to maybe "visit" the faculties of the O.E.R.A.  
  
Ah, the line was moving forward. He paused a moment to allowed the blue haired girl and her friend, the older woman with her arm in the sling, out in front of him. The girl nodded her thanks quietly, and hosting the two's bags over her small shoulder, stepped into line.  
  
He'd managed to strike up a conversation with the quiet girl during the trip, and had learned that her name was Basil; she'd lived for a while in parts of Europe and Asia, and was here in Metropolis on business with her Doctor. She'd been very frank with her answers, but didn't end up talking that much, aside from the part she was reading up on Metropolis, since she'd heard little of the great city, which apparently had been what she'd been so interested in on her laptop. He hadn't managed to find out what business she was in town for, since she only looked be about 14 or 15, or why her "Doctor" was with her. He found trying to get such details from people as very good practice for later on when he needed such skills in an investigation, and besides, he was a social person, and the girl had been quite polite in answering and making small talk. A very good thing to see in young people now a days.  
  
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Kenichi settled back into the seat. The plane would be taking off soon, and while he felt a bit guilty about not being able to work on Tima for a week, he did feel happy that he was going to be of some use to Atlas, in paying him, and the others, back for all of the help they'd given him. Some of the older, and few, girls who worked with Atlas and Jihad Shov acted very motherly to him, fussing over him and such. It was kind of embarrassing, but nice at the same time. His mother living in the States now left him missing her a lot in the past five years, her having moved there after his father died of the cancer tumor, and Uncle Shunsaku offering to have Kenichi live with him. It'd been very distracting from his father's death to work as his uncle's assistant and fun at the same time, since he'd loved his mother's older brother as a very young child.  
  
Atlas sunk into the seat next to him, smiling. "Well, then, we're all set to go. How'd things go last night packing?"  
  
Kenichi shrugged, "Not too bad, I didn't have that much to pack, just some manuals and stuff." Atlas raised an eyebrow, but said nothing; he'd learned that probing the younger boy about such things got him nowhere. "Hey, Atlas, this.Governor Jihad Shov, is he coming to Belovdor?"  
  
Atlas laid back into the seat, arms behind his heads, eyes looking off into space, "nop, not yet, any ways. He's got things to take care of on this end in Metropolis, and in a week or two, he'll be flying out to work a little bit with the Panel also." His brown eyes flickered over towards Kenichi, "He's been quite a help to us, ya know. I don't know if we'd been able to get a hearing with this Panel if he hadn't been on our side o'things."  
  
The green haired boy nodded, "yes, I've heard." Atlas sat up, eyes bright again, "hey, that's right, you haven't met him yet, have ya? Well, ya'll like him; he's a decent enough fellow, for a politician." Kenichi had to laugh at that, Atlas' view of all people in office wasn't flattering.  
  
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Basil felt paranoid in this crowd. She hadn't ever been among this many people, and just trying to keep sight of Jizanda was enough to make her keep her grey eyes wide open and searching. Breathing just a little bit hard, the bags were heavy, and she was small and not built for lugging around heavy, cumbersome objects such as the bags, no matter how agile she was. Blowing her blue bangs out of her face, she panicked for a moment, eyes searching the terminal for any sign of Dr. Jizanda. A hand on her shoulder lead her to see the brown haired woman behind her, relaxing, Basil ventured, "It's rather.crowded in here, isn't it?"  
  
Jizanda nodded, glasses mirroring her cross-looking hazel eyes and down- turned eyebrows. "Yes, it is. Never have liked that about airports. Or any large gathering place." Her voice was crabby, and Basil said no more, it was best to allow the older woman privacy to think out her own thoughts, besides; it kept her from getting her head ripped off.  
  
They walked together, or as much were permitted by the large amount of people, in silence, the taller woman's grouchy expression, and confident distance covering stride for the most part kept people from bumping into her. Basil found it odd that at her most uncomfortable moment, Jizanda looked, and acted, her most confident and sure. Such odd little character quirks kept Basil constantly at odds with the older woman, as she'd been for much of her short life, but she had a hunch that the older woman did it on purpose to people, perhaps due to an extreme dislike of others seeing her at a low spot in her life. Either way, Dr. Jizanda would not have been her first choice for this little excursion, which still made little sense to her, but, it was the way things were. With that thought firmly set in mind, the blue haired girl kept her eyes up and trailed behind in the wake the taller woman left as she strolled through the crowds.  
  
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Shunsaku was more than a little surprised when at arriving at the hotel when Kenichi stayed during his time in Metropolis, only to be informed by the desk clerk that the detective's nephew had left Metropolis for about a week, to return latter, and that the rooms located in the nearest former- train-car be reserved until then. The clerk did not where the young lad had left to; he'd assumed Japan, as he did at times to visit his uncle.  
  
The detective assumed then that Kenichi must have written him of such, as it wasn't the boy's nature to go running off at every little whim, and not with out telling his uncle where he was going. He was a responsible lad, and until he got such a letter re-sent to him in Metropolis, Shunsaku thought he'd just sit tight, and, work on the case at hand.  
  
The clerk was more than obliging to give Shunsaku Ban the keys to the rooms, and the short detective settled his bags in, and then, was off to do a bit more research before turning in for the night. Locking the door, he mentally made a list of all the places that might house the belongings of the late Dr. Luaghton, and, his stomach rumbling, a list of good places to eat.  
  
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Leaning back into the leather chair, Jihad Shov relaxed for a moment from the paperwork. Glancing over at the small black circular clock on the opposite wall, he was a bit aghast at the fact that it was well into the night, but not surprised. The past couple years he'd spent far more time in his offices than at home. Not that he minded too much, home was large, tasteful apartment, but he had so much work, and going home with that thought hanging over him left a bad taste in his mouth.  
  
Briefly, he let him mind wander from the matters at hand, usually good to do, since you could then come back with a fresh look. His parents, down well into their sixties, had retired to Spain, and for the most part, had left much of their money and influence behind with him, their youngest and remaining son. Why in the world he'd chosen to stay in Metropolis was beyond him. Except, for the political game. So thrilling, so intoxicating, like a good wine, or woman. And in Metropolis, not only was it thrilling, it was dangerous. One wrong move left you in serious trouble. Some men loved challenging the mountains to do their worst. Some men loved riding the rapids, trusting their lives to the fragile pieces of fibber-glass and rubber. Others, exploring the wilderness, the deaths of the ocean was their way of getting the thrills, the rush of adrenaline that close brushes with death brings. But him, it was politics. The fact that he ended up giving mankind a helping hand was a bonus.  
  
Jihad Shov was what people would consider charming. The youngest child born to a couple well into their forties, and very well off, he'd had a brother older by 28 years, who doted on him, but was latter on killed in the War. Since then, he'd been, and still was, much to his dismay at times, focused on, with all of their energy and love pored into him. As such, he'd ended up as a spoiled child who'd learn quite quickly that by being charming and logical, you got what you want much faster than by throwing a fit. And, were much more liked for it. The fact that he had had fairly medium, average looks help him quite a bit in office, people were able to relate to him so much more. Dark hair, with bright, dark eyes and a dark complexion, his Hispanic heritage stood out quite a bit.  
  
He'd attended the best of schools as a child, and had every advantage possible. Smart, and with most of his parents' huge fortune backing him, stepping up to the plate for office in Metropolis, right after that nasty business with the Ziggurat commissioned and built by the esteemed Duke Red, hadn't been that hard.  
  
But, it had taken tact. At the end of it all, he really did want changes for Metropolis, and for the lower citizens, and with the chaotic mess left by the fall of the Ziggurat, and the assassination of President Boon, any one with any urges of power tried to take office. And the voices of the people had been pushed down stomped into the ground. And while he had to admit that a couple of the things they were against, such as robot labor, were a bit crazy, he could see, and understand, their need for a place in the world, for security for their families, and had resolved, worked, and even managed so far, to make more jobs open to the people below Metropolis, the people of Zone-1.  
  
But, the problem was, even though people seemed to hate robots, so much had been placed upon them, that there was so little left for the humans. Something had to be done. And as usual, the question was, What?  
  
That was why so much depended upon this meeting with the Panel in Belvorder. And why it was so important that Atlas impress the problem correctly. He'd had his doubts about the young man, that revolution idea had just been..a disaster, to say the least. But he seemed to have matured since then, and there was no question, people listened to him. He had the flair, the presence of a leader, and Jihad had not doubt that if steered correctly, Atlas could become a very important person in Metropolis.  
  
"Mr. Shov?"  
  
He was jolted out of his thoughts by the sound of his secretary coming in on the privet intercom. Damn, he'd thought that she'd gone home by now! It was well after eleven...leaning forwarded, "Yes, Mercie? What is it?"  
  
"There's two people waiting out here to see you."  
  
"What the. Mercie, it's past eleven! How'd they get into the building, much less the office?" His voice conveyed his disbelief and anger to his secretary, whom answered back calmly, being use to his moods by now, "They said that one of the receptionist let them in, and escorted them up. They say that their business is quite pressing with you."  
  
"Who are they?"  
  
"The elder lady gave her name as Dr. Mieeki, sir. Should I let them in, or ask that they come back tomorrow, at a decent hour?" The slight edge to her voice showed her disbelief as someone with matters so pressing they couldn't wait until morning, or to privately call.  
  
But Jihad missed that. His mind had frozen the moment he'd heard Dr. Mieeki, and hadn't moved past it. Her! Yes, he'd kept in contact with the woman, he couldn't see how he couldn't of, his parents had adored her. But he knew also that she hated Metropolis with quite a bit of passion, and for her to be here, personally...  
  
"Sir?"  
  
The tall man was snapped back into reality by the sound of his secretary's annoyed voice, "yes, Marcie, show them in. At once."  
  
"Really? But.yes sir."  
  
A few seconds later, the smaller blonde haired woman opened the door, and behind her walked in Her. He mentally checked over her, same wild, crazy ash brown hair, cut much shorter now, same stern, cold hazel eyes, hidden behind glasses, same tall, strong stance and stride, same way of walking into a room and owning it. She still dressed well, with that sense of class that he'd always admired about her, arm in a sling, he was surprised to find, she was of the cautious, careful sort, not likely to get into any accidents.  
  
Walking to the center or the room, and waiting until he coughed, a sign for Mercie to shut the door and leave, she looked like an elderly queen returning to her kingdom.  
  
Rising out of his chair, he spread his hands, "Jizanda. I can't say I'm pleased to see you again, but, welcome back."  
  
**********************  
  
With a belly full of food, a couple visits around the city, a bit more new information, and Shunsaku Ban was ready to call it quits for the night, and read over what he'd managed to find out. Since his last visit to Metropolis, and with Kenichi spending so much time in the city, he'd taken care to keep himself updated on the events occurring.  
  
Aside from the city, and state of Metropolis being thrown into almost a kind of civil war, with politicians battling right and left, and with the people of Metropolis doing the same, throwing the fits over the number of robots allowed, and controlling the city, it'd been a royal mess. But one that seemed to be getting cleaned up, slowly but surely. The level of anger that he'd felt the fist time he'd visit Metropolis had gone down quite a bit, to a smaller, quieter feel, not nearly as powerful as before, when it had just sat, smoldering beneath the surface, waiting to erupt. The citizens of Metropolis had a way now to channel their anger through; instead of keeping it underneath, hiding it, waiting until it consumed them. Now, they worked for a common goal, getting their jobs back, and rebuilding Metropolis into the powerful city that it's been before. Weather or not that was a good thing, was yet to be seen.  
  
The short, round detective had managed to find some information on where Dr. Luaghton's notes would be held, and planned to visit them in the morning. It might be more difficult to obtain the notes, and journals, since people seemed to hate to part with things they thought had value. Which of course those notes had, to the scientific world, they could be priceless. It was just finding someone who'd want the bad name attached with them would be hard to find.  
  
But, evidently, the O.E.R.A's didn't mind that little curse. Or, did they? The loop continued.  
  
*************************  
  
Kenichi was hunched over a table outside of the large briefing room, where the Panel was currently debriefing a case. Atlas had disappeared for the moment, leaving the younger lad by himself, writing in his notepad.  
  
He'd finally managed to figure out the simpler components of the inter working of what had been Tima, and was just starting to get a grasp of the science of robotics. The past two years of constantly studying the various manuals, and notes that Dr. Luaghton had left behind were finally starting to pay off. And by writing out things, he memorized the working much faster. It was easier work, once you had a grasp of things, he decided, sitting back and surveying his work proudly.  
  
"Interesting work?"  
  
The green haired boy turned in his seat, expecting to see Atlas, but instead, there was a young man, looking to be in his late twenties, looking over his shoulder. Shutting the cover on the notebook, Kenichi nodded. Some times it was better to not let people in on what you were working on, something he'd learned from both his uncle and the past couple years.  
  
"Oh? I am sorry. I did not realize I was intruding." From the phrasing of his words, and slight accent, Kenichi guessed that the young man was European, shaking his head, "oh, no, it's all right. I was just waiting.."  
  
Nodding, and taking a chair by the table the young man agreed, "Ah, I know. My employer has been in there since early this morning. And, as you can see, it is close to late afternoon. But, I am rude." Holding his hand out, "My name is Jonathan Oshko. And you are.."  
  
"Oh, I'm Kenichi. I'm here with my friends; they have a meeting with the Panel as soon as this current session is over." Kenichi shook the man' hand, "What are you here for? I mean, why are you here seeing the Panel?"  
  
Smiling a quite, half smile, the young man nodded, "Yes. The Board of the Science of Humanolgly, is located here this year, and we've been having a bit of trouble with them, with understanding, and communication."  
  
"Oh?" Kenichi felt a bit puzzled, "what's Humanolgly?"  
  
"It's the study of the human body, the inter workings, and how it all fits together. At least, that's the short hand of it. It is a bit more complicated, but that is the long and short of it."  
  
"Oh, I see." At that moment, Atlas appeared again, just as the huge doors to the briefing room opened, men and women poring out. Shaking hands once again with Kenichi, Jonathan smiled. "Good luck with your friends and you Kenichi. We'll probably be seeing bit of each other around, and, I hope you have a good luck with what you are working on. " Looking after him in surprise, Kenichi wondered if the older man had gotten a look before he'd managed to close his notebook, before turning back towards Atlas and the others.  
  
*******************  
  
So..the pipsqueak had left Metropolis again. And not back to Japan, like he'd done before, in the past two years. This time, to Belvoder, with the rest of those damned fools, to whine about life. Big whoop.  
  
He'd been keeping an eye on that Kenichi for a while now, he'd had the faintest feeling that if he was to get any important information, it'd be through him. After all, the twerp had been friends with that damned robot Tima, hadn't he? Speaking of information however, he'd gotten some very interesting tidbits just a little while ago. Weather or not it'd come in handy, only time would tell so far.  
  
Only time could tell anything, he'd learned that.  
  
  
  
*******************  
  
Well, there we go! Chapter four! And a long one at that! Wheeee! Next chapter will be along shortly, and it should get much, much more interesting after this.anyways, hope you liked, if you noticed anything, or have any questions, comments, helpful stuff, ect, please tell me! I like hearing comments and such, they help me improve. ;) Thankies to everyone who has so far, I love ya! 


	5. Chapter Five: blank

By Any Other Name  
  
Chapter Five: (Any one who had a decent t idea, tell me. I'm brain-dead tonight. Blah.)  
  
Written by: Xalan  
  
Notes: Wow, chapter five! Thanks to everyone for their kind words and helpful critic, it helps and means a lot to me! *hugs* Thanks to all of you!  
  
This was the hardest chapter to date to write, as I'm trying to pin things down for the future storyline-thingy. So, it took a while, but I'm trying! Any contradictions found, please tell me! And, I'm looking for a beta reader, or someone who'd like to proof read these, to go through and see any mistakes, or things that didn't make sense, or flow nicely, ect. I read through my stuff several times, but I'd like to have someone else's option on these before I go posting. So, if you know someone, or would like to do it, please, email me at kitdecaine@hotmail.com, or mention in the comments/review-thingys, and we'll talk thing over. It'll be one or possibly, two chapters a month to look over, and in return, I'll write you a short fiction, or, draw you a couple pics. I'm writing both for my own enjoyment and to improve my writing, so any help is much appreciated!  
  
And, to answer some questions, yes, Duke Red will show up.sometime. .haven't pined down that whole thing quite yet, but he will show up, and be a major character in this. Half the whole plot so far is about that..Next, who was talking at the end of the last chapter? Mmmmmmmm.Guess! There were enough hints to give ya good idea of who it is... ;)  
  
  
  
**********************  
  
Clearing her throat Jizanda Mieeki nodded towards Jihad, "Yes, I can imagine." Her voice held that dry humor and sarcastic he'd faintly remembered of her. Striding forward, the tall woman sat herself down across the desk from him. Crossing her legs, she continued, "As I'm sure you've guessed by now, I am not here on pleasure visit." Looking straight at him, "I need your help."  
  
Just about falling out of his chair with surprise, Jihad tried to compose himself. "Ah? Well, what sort of help, Jizanda? It must be something pretty big, if you're coming to me, and not fixing it yourself."  
  
Regarding him with a cold expression, Jizanda paused for a moment, just long enough for the silence to set in, "My assets have been frozen. I'm not entirely positive of how that happened, and I need your help in un- freezing them. I'd do it myself, but, I'm currently in a bit of trouble both with the Association and evidently, the Swedish law."  
  
For some reason, this.Jizanda, in his office, telling him that her banks accounts were on hold, that SHE was in trouble with the LAW, it was just.amusing. He struggled to keep a smile from breaking out on his face, and he was sure the older woman noticed the twitching, if her even colder glance at him could be any thing to go off of.  
  
Trying hard to control his voice, Jihad ventured, "You..are... in trouble..with the law? Now, you've got to tell me ALL about this." Frowning, Jizanda shook her head. "I can't. Much of it is classified, and I have no desire to have you laughing at me for being a foolish little girl."  
  
Now this had his attention! "Classified? Such as in.some project of the O.E.R.A?" Ah, he'd struck home! Jizanda had always been lousy at poker, and while she could freeze your butt off with one of her glares, she couldn't keep a perfectly blank face. Plus, information about the Association was kept fairly quite, until they revealed important medical information and such. But, he DID keep tabs on Jizanda, just because at times he did want to stay one step ahead of her. Grinning a bit, he ventured out a bit more, "Perhaps in fact..Operation: Basalt?" Damn, he was good! The look of total surprise on Jizanda's face was priceless.  
  
Leaning back into his chair, now confident that he had the ball in his court, Jihad smirked. "I am on the right track, aren't I? Would you care to elaborate?"  
  
Jizanda had composed herself again, "Not really. Things are bit sticky right and, if you can't help me, or insist on being a moron, I'll just leave." she made as if to rise from her seat, Jihad waving a hand, "oh, come off it dearestly-annoying-elder-one. (He really did get a kick out of making fun of her, such a challenge at times, and so fun!) If you had to come to me for help, things must be pretty bad." Face turning serious again, he regarded her with calm eyes, "It must be more than just your bank accounts and such being frozen though."  
  
Eyes flickering shut of a moment, the older woman nodded. "As usual, you would be right. There's a warrant out for me, posted by the Swedish police. What I really need is a place to stay, or as I guess I should say, hide out and.Jihad, you're the only one.." She shut up almost the very moment a slight waver was heard in her usually calm and steady voice.  
  
Jihad frowned, a slight feeling of protectiveness running through him. Sure, he had such fun teasing and bugging his elder sister-in-law, in the end, she had been an older sister (in every irritating sense of the word) to him, and he had very firm sense of family..even if Jizanda could be such an irritating, bossy, stuck-up-you-know-what, and a reminder of his brother, and very young nephew he could hardly remember.  
  
Leaning forward, his voice was firm, the voice he used when debating matters on the podium in front of large crowds, "Jizanda..I never really use my apartment anyways, so, feel free. Just don't end up giving me a huge cleaning bill, have it? I've seen the way you cook." Her shoulders lifted as if a great weight had been taken off, and she looked him in the eye, "thank you Jihad."  
  
Standing up, she was halfway to the door before she turned, "Jihad? Is there room for two? There's a young girl who's been traveling with me, and she needs if anything, even more protection than me at the moment.." At his raised eyebrows, she glared; he retaliated by tossing his hands up exasperatedly, "fine. Why not invite the whole damn country? You could kill half of them off by making dinner, and make my job easier."  
  
************************  
  
Well, today had gone.fairly well, he supposed. The meeting before the panel had been outright boring, with people droning on and on. He'd sensed anger and frustration coming from Atlas and the others as it'd gone on and on, and tried to stay ahead of what was being said though.  
  
When they'd finally been adjourned, it'd been late evening. Dusk had fallen, and the stars had come out brightly. Belovdor was much, much smaller of a city than Metropolis, and with less light from the city itself, the stars appeared close, and easier to see.  
  
It was a night city however, and people were about, on the streets, or in the street side open air cafes, lounging and talking as they watched people walked by. The air of Belvobor was also different from Metropolis, more relaxed, and carefree. The buildings were at the most 7 stories high, and seemed friendlier than the tall, artistic, steel giants of Metropolis. In way, it felt a lot like Zone-1, to Kenichi.  
  
Atlas and the others had opted for taking a look around the city, while a couple of them went back to State house, where people to present cases in front of the Panel stayed when they came to Belvodor, and where Kenichi, Atlas, and the rest had unpacked. Kenichi opted to follow Acre, Sonja, and Bair back to the State House; he was tired from the long session, and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes.  
  
But, when the chance came, he was too restless. No matter how much he tried, he tossed and turned. Nothing came to mind to account for such, and before he knew it, he was up, dressed and walking about the large corridors.  
  
The State house had been built two centuries before, for State delegates, but over time, and when the State of Metropolis had come into being, it had been converted into a gathering place, and later on, where those presenting case before the Panel rested, and stayed. The Panel had been formed only 70 years ago, as another branch of the government, only this particular branch controlled the very laws, and ethics, that Atlas was trying to change.  
  
He mused as he walked, everything from the politics of the State of Metropolis, which seemed to just get more and more complicated the more you learned of them, to robots, and where their place would be, if Atlas did succeed. To get more jobs for the people of Metropolis, namely Zone-1, to break down the caste system, robots would have to go somewhere else, or do something else. The problem was, what? People had become more and more against the robots over the past couple years than ever, even with the Ziggurat and Duke Red and the Murduks gone, things had not improved. So, it had to be the robots that were at fault.  
  
But, they weren't. That part of Atlas' thinking Kenichi did not agree with. And he knew, that Atlas knew of that part of Kenichi's thinking, but, left him alone about it. Kenichi did want the living conditions, and job openings, for the people of Metropolis to improve. If you didn't have money, or influence in Metropolis, you were stuck, with very little chance to work up.  
  
That wasn't right. But, neither was blaming the robots. From working with them Kenichi knew the robots did have a spark of sediment, some, even more. It didn't make sense in a lot of ways, but he knew that it was there. They could think, and yes, they could feel. Some dimly, knowing that humans hated and rejected them, to others almost. understanding those feelings.  
  
Even as much as he'd help the citizens of Metropolis regain their dignity and lives, he'd help the robots keep theirs. That much he knew firmly in his heart.  
  
************************  
  
"Well.things are a fine mess now." Dr. Samuel Oshko collapsed into the chair, "It justs gets worse and worse."  
  
"Sir?" Jonathan was regarding him worriedly from across the room. He'd been very concerned about his friend and mentor since the earlier discussion, the doctor had come out looking beat down, and in sore need of an aspirin and a good, stiff drink.  
  
Waving him away, the grey-haired doctor sighed. "Nothing new Jonathan, nothing new. Just that the whole Association will be shut down if they're both not found. With the evidence that's being presented, Operation Basalt is starting to look very harmful indeed. And, if we find any, ANY damned mention of the working that Luaghton did for us in those notes and things, termination is granted." Head in his hands, hunched in his chair, he looked very much the 70-something man he was. A pang of pity went through Jonathon, the Association had been founded and dreamt up by Dr. Oshko and was his whole life's work. To have his reputation stained by something like this..  
  
And.terminated! It finally hit him by what Dr. Oshko had meant. Termination of not only the Association, but of all work. ALL work. The board wiped clean, with no mention of the Association, or their work. That meant..  
  
"Sir, that's...that's murder.."  
  
Dr. Oshko's weary grey eyes flickered towards him, and then back off into space again. "Yes. That's what part of this is about, you know. Is it, or is it not murder to kill something that was created by human hands? Even if it is in fact, biological, look, talks, and feels completely human? It's a hard issue, one that people will skate about, that they have, you remember those instances about 20 years ago, which is why we MUST bring this into the light, to convince, and tell.." He cut if short of what he'd been saying, shaking his head, he stood up. "I'm going to go find some vodka. Too bad Dr. Mieeki isn't here, we could get drunk together."  
  
*********************  
  
Kenichi ran into the older youth that he'd met earlier that day, Jonathon, outside of a long stretch of corridor. The two had been walking heads down, deep in their own thoughts, so they hadn't seen the other until, crunch! Both had landed on the floor, blinking in surprise at the other.  
  
Standing to their feet, both apologizing, they ended up laughing nervously, Jonathon making the first conversation move, looking at Kenichi, "I didn't know that you would stay.oh, I see. You have a case with the Panel, so of course you would reside here for the time. How foolish of me."  
  
Kenichi shook his head, abet a bit slowly, he'd managed to run head on with Jonathon, and had a good-sized bump on his forehead now. "Uhm. I guess." The two feel into step, hands pushed down into pockets, they exchanged small talk, until Kenchi asked, "Did your session with the Panel go well? You look a bit aggravated."  
  
The older man glanced at him with a hint of surprise, "Oh? Well, it could have gone better. Right now, we need some important information before we can really defend our case, so it's a bit in limbo for us. And you? If I remember the Panel didn't dismiss until rather late."  
  
The green haired boy shrugged. "It was boring, actually. Mostly ground work covering, I think. I wasn't much needed today, so I had a lot of time to think."  
  
Jonathon nodded, "Ah, I can see. It is usually like that. Much talk, very little action. It can take years for things to actually get decided, and then action taken upon that." Kenichi's eyes went wide, "Years?" He managed to croak out, Jonathon looking at Kenichi's suddenly much panicked face, a smiling tugging at the corners of his lips.  
  
"Don't worry, it, ah, might only be a couple weeks....if you're lucky and the sky falls on them..."  
  
The poor little guy looked ready to pass out. Hmm, he must not have had to deal much with board members, and their speedy (HA!) ways...trying hard not to laugh, Jonathon clapped Kenichi on the shoulder, "Really! I was only.pulling your leg, as they say. They might actually come to a decision in a fair amount of time. One never knows." Taking a closer look at the green haired boy's pale face, "Why? Do you have something important to do?"  
  
Glancing at him, Kenichi tried to smiled and shrug. A couple years! Atlas hadn't mentioned anything about that! But then, maybe Atlas didn't know...  
  
"Oh, no, not really..."  
  
  
  
*********************  
  
Basil groaned and rolled over onto her stomach, pulling the blanket over her head. Sunlight pored through the large window on the east side, flooding the room with light and warmth.  
  
Someone was up. Logic said that it was probably Jizanda, the older woman, far as she'd noticed, was an early riser, which she suppose stuck true, even after not getting to bed well after one in the morning. But then, she'd gotten to sleep through the whole plane trip. Basil'd been too keyed up, and curious to do such, although now that she thought about it, it would have been preferable.  
  
The second guestroom was smaller than the first, although still a fairly good size. It was silent, except for the faint hum of the air conditioning and her own quite, rhythmical breathing. She tried to close her eyes, to will herself back into sleep.  
  
Forget it. She was too awake, too alert now.  
  
Sliding the blankets back, and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she only glanced at herself in the mirror that hung next to the low laying bed, above the small, classy stand. She knew what she'd find in the refection. A small girl, petite in size, and small in build, with long, careless blue hair that couldn't make up its mind to be straight of wavy, bangs constantly in her face, hiding large, yet always narrowed grey eyes. Her only really good feature was her face. Small, and heart shaped, it had a softness and naïve-ness that appealed instantly to those who could see it from beneath the wild bangs, and once the alertness in the eyes softened, it could be quite charming.  
  
She listened to the sounds of Jizanda out by the kitchen that connected to the living room, as she dressed from the casual amount of clothes packed in the duffels; neither her nor Jizanda had been able to pack. A casual shirt and pants had to suffice, with her hair tossed behind her shoulders. She considered brushing it, then decided against it. Her hair would do whatever it wanted, brushed or not.  
  
Quickly tiding up the room, and putting stuff back into the duffle, she wondered vaguely if she'd actually have to eat anything Jizanda made. The woman was a horrible cook, the only person Basil knew that could ruin toast effortlessly, and put someone in the hospital with a stomach pump.  
  
************************  
  
Getting those notes had been harder than he'd thought. When arriving at the confiscated items section of the police department, he'd had to go through a huge pile of paperwork, and several interviews, and still, they weren't letting Shunsaku any where near those papers and notebooks. The short, round detective was thankful he'd left the red notebook that contained notes on Tima with his nephew Kenichi, that one coulda been hell to try and get a hold of, what with security of state and all.  
  
As it was, he was now struggling his way through yet another pile of paperwork that he was almost positive he'd just done. Police personnel could really be quite a pain when it came to things like this, he mused. Meanwhile, he was getting a cramp in his hand.  
  
*************************  
  
The maid that worked Tuesdays through Saturdays at Sunrise View Suits, one of the largest, and most expensive, apartment suits in Metropolis, was still blushing bright red. That nice, cute young man had been by again today, and had commented on her hair.  
  
Over three months ago, just a couple months after she'd gotten so lucky and was hired for this job, a young man, and a very cute one at that, had started stopping by, at first making idle talk with her, she'd eventually found out that he was some kind of building inspector, and kept an eye on all of the most impressive apartment suits in Metropolis. She'd been so impressed, he seemed so young to have that kind of important job, and let him in all of the time now. He'd talk to her for a little while, and then go on his rounds, looking in at the suits, checking up on them, or, at least that's what he said. She never went with him, as she had so much work to get done.  
  
He came on different days and times, but always on the days she worked, blushing madly again, she wondered if there was a special reason for that.  
  
  
  
*************************  
  
Women are gullible suckers. Tell them their hair looks nice, or that's a pretty nail polish color, or my, what a lovely dress, don't you look nice today, and they'll do anything. Which, worked rather nicely for him.  
  
He'd been keeping an eye on this place for a while now, ever since he'd found that hint of information, but, hadn't the power to go any farther. That'd been the stumbling block, until he'd thought of it. Find some blackmail on one of the higher up politicians, or kidnap their close relatives (although no in-laws, that'd just be doing them a favor), or whatever, and bang, there ya go, instant access to the information channels he needed.  
  
He managed to shorten the list of possible victims to just five, one of course being the still Mayor Ryon, the new State of Defense Brin Von Baron, Secretary of the Treasury Victoria Muss, Head of the Cabinet Daniel Wyaitt, and Governor Jihad Shov.  
  
All five had rather large, expensive suits in this building, being a very popular place to reside, and thus, made it very easy for him to keep tabs on all of them. Victoria Muss, for instance, was a heavy drinker, a fact that very few people knew, and one that could possibly cause her to lose her position. Daniel Wyaitt on the other had, was a partier, and thought himself a women's man, but that was no big secret. Most seemed to have no really close relatives, aside from Jihad Shov, but his elderly parents now lived in Europe. That would be a bit hard to swing, and probably not worth the effort.  
  
Brushing his bangs back out of his eyes, he checked all of the tiny, video cameras he installed in all of the living rooms of those five, pocketing the tiny tapes, and putting new ones in. But, when he'd made his way to Governor Shov's apartment, he was rather surprised to find someone there. That was unusual. From past information, the young Governor didn't stay home very often, much less past 9:30 in the mornings. So, that meant...burglars, which he doubted, or..relatives. Bingo.  
  
He'd keep an eye on this for the next couple of days.  
  
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What will happen next? You'll have to read the next chapter! (Soon as I get writing on it..hehe.erk.) So, as usual, any comments, hints, helpful critic, something you think might be an interesting plot twist, (I love it when people think of these things, it's great to get other people's ideas!) please, say so! I enjoy hearing it, and the critics both motivate and help me in my writing. Thank you to all of kind people who have done so! *Hugs* You're all so sweet!  
  
Annnnnd now, site plug! So visit my Metropolis fan page (and sign the guestbook!) at www.geocities.com/xalan_met/index.html  
  
And visit (and comment!) on my Metropolis fanart at http://www.side7.com/cgi-bin/S7SDB/Archive.pl?ANO=7237 


	6. Chapter Six: In which things finailly s...

By any Other Name  
  
Chapter Six: In which things finally start moving along..  
  
Written by Xalan  
  
Notes: Blah, this was the hardest chapter of all to write so far. I had a great start off on it and then it just.died. It sat on my hard-drive for about two weeks doing nothing until I finally got things pinned down a bit, and tried to really work on this. The chapters after this will be easier as I've got things fairly planned out. Sorry everyone, it's been pretty slow going, but things are starting to speed up now. ^_^  
  
And, once again, thank you to all for your sweet and Kind reviews, (Stagsleap and Sagen most of all! You guys are so sweet!) They're very encouraging, and helpful, and I love hearing back from people who read through it! Thank you! ^_^  
  
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"We of the Panel recognize the aspects of the case presented before us, that robot production and usage in Metropolis would decrease to much lower level than at present, and that the occupations currently occupied by robots with be transferred to the citizens of Metropolis. But, until proof that it would be benefactory to the economy, and to the well fare of citizens occupying theses positions maintained by Robots, the motion is denied."  
  
Denied.  
  
Denied freedom from their poverty by these overfed, greedy men of society. Atlas slammed his fist to the table, DAMNIT! Just remembering earlier that afternoon when they'd been dismissed caused anger to well up inside of him. It seemed there was no way to get what they wanted, or needed. At every corner they were cut off. They'd been betrayed before the revolution, which they'd been assured they'd win and rise up, to now. It didn't matter either way.  
  
Damnit. There was no winning. Not for them.  
  
  
  
******************************  
  
  
  
She was slowly starving to death, she just knew it. Jizanda HADN'T been able to cook anything edible, expect maybe to her, and Basil'd lived off crackers for the past two days. Good crackers though.  
  
Mr. Jihad had come to talk to Jizanda a couple times, but he rarely seemed to spend anytime here. It was his home, after all. Maybe he was just trying to avoid Dr. Mieeki's cooking. She'd already burnt the bottoms off of five different pots and pans.  
  
And, she was getting bored. She was use to sitting for a long time, but staying cooped up in the same place for two days straight now, looking out the windows and watching TV was only entertaining for a short while. So far, Jizanda and her had only ventured out a bit, and that was just for Jizanda to find more things to burn. The doctor made it very clear that Basil was to stay put in the apartment, and not wander around. But this place looked so interesting! Just from watching people on the streets below, or the hover cars, she really wanted to venture out and just look.  
  
Sighing, she laid her head on her arms across the back of the cream colored couch that sat close to one of the floor to ceiling high east-facing windows. It was beautiful to watch the sunrise out of these windows, to see the color creeping through the sky, and glinting of the large, gleaming buildings at the edge of Metropolis. Mr. Jihad had watched it one morning with her, while Jizanda worked on her laptop.  
  
He appeared to be a very nice man. Very smart, and he seemed to love teasing and bugging Jizanda, and as far as she knew, one of very few people who told Jizanda she couldn't cook. He'd frightened her a little at first; he could be quite intimidating, but she'd ended up having quite a bit of fun talking to him, he could become quite animated, waving his arms about as he talked with that deep, persuasive voice of his. He'd also been the one who'd told her where were the crackers were, hidden in the wine glass cupboard. But then he'd rumpled her hair and called her a "cute little thing." That had been irritating choice of words that hit home hard.  
  
She shifted; Jizanda was locked up in one of the rooms now, working again. She could just peek out into the hallways, the doctor would never notice. And, maybe, she could make her way down to the restaurant on the ground floor, and order something. Mr. Jihad had said she could charge anything she wanted to his account, and the though of a large, turkey sandwich sounded so wonderful.  
  
  
  
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Atlas shuffled the papers he'd compiled, Bair glancing over at him irritably from where she was working with her own set. They'd been given long, complicated forms to be filed out, and no one within was making much process, all wondering if it really mattered anymore.  
  
The five in the room, Atlas, Corky (remember the guy who was with Atlas most of the time, with the hat and wraparound sunglass? Yup, this is him; they never mentioned his name, whaa! Bit if someone does know his name, please tell me and I'll change it. ^_^) Bair, Oinchi and Michi all were working on various forms that had to be completed, although none really understood the point; they'd all been there when the Panel had dismissed them.  
  
All four were Atlas's most trusted companions, either from before, or after the revolution, Corky and Bair from growing up as children, and Oinchi and Michi afterwards, all grouping together to form a new plan for the rising of the lower class of the people of Metropolis. Right now however, they'd been at each other's throats all afternoon. The long, and tedious day had taken its toll on everyone, making tempers short.  
  
"Is there even a point ta all of this?" Corky gripped, as he looked over Bair's shoulder, trying to read whatever she'd been working on. Bair jabbed him in the gut with her elbow, making an irritated noise in her throat. And thus, the whole circle started again, everyone snapping at each other, and looking towards him for the answers. None of which he had.  
  
He actually didn't even see why they had to do all of this paperwork, if they'd been denied in their case. In fact...  
  
Scooping all of the paper on the table up, Atlas dumped it into the wastebasket. Turning back towards the other to see expressions of disbelief, and dismay, no one wanted to have to fill out those forms again, he crossed his arms firmly across his chest. "I think we've had enough of this.democracy. I say we pay a visit to our neighborhood governor."  
  
  
  
************************  
  
Well. Things were coming along very nicely. He'd managed to keep updates on Governor Shov, and his "guests", thanks to the small, hidden video cameras. And it looked like he'd hit gold.  
  
Jihad Shov had only come to his apartment a couple times in the past two days, but enough for him to find out the relationships between him and the two women staying there. The brown haired one, he guessed to be in her late forties, was apparently his much older sister-in-law. An in-law, uck, of all the luck.  
  
The other was a young girl, probably about 15. He hadn't quite figured out what her relation to them was, but he guessed her to be a grand-daughter, or maybe niece of the other woman, that Governor Shov hadn't met yet, or seen in a long time. Jihad seemed to be fond of the girl as well, which was good. The Governor would participate if he kidnapped one of them. It would have to be the young girl though. The elder woman looked like she could be a pain in the butt, and wouldn't intimidate easily, whereas the girl looked like she'd be a pushover. Perfect.  
  
The only problem would be when. The two never left the apartment, except to go food shopping, and that was very quick, he'd only had enough time to get the tapes in and out before they'd gotten back. The possibility he saw so far was to kidnap the girl in the apartment, while the other woman was working in one of the other rooms. It was risky, and he didn't like it. He'd just wait, and the first chance he saw, he'd go for it.  
  
  
  
***********************  
  
Shunsaku Ban packed the documents away in a large envelope, sealing it tight. He'd finally managed to get a hold of Doctor Luaghton's writings, not without plenty of writing cramps, and after making a couple copies, was preparing to send them off to the O.E.R.A. and to find the next flight to Europe.  
  
But those plans were canceled when at the front desk, getting ready to check out, he found another large, yellow envelope addressed to him. From you guessed it, the O.E.R.A. Ripping it open, he found a smaller envelope inside. Contained within that, was the oddest request yet. He was to stay in Metropolis, and wait for one or their representatives to meet him. They'd offered to pay him twice the amount originally offered and a bonus if all came out right in the end.  
  
No matter how much he sat and scratched his head, he couldn't come up with a reason for this. It just didn't make sense. He'd never met anyone from the O.E.R.A, and the fact that he was just leaving to check up on them, and one offering to come meet him, just seemed too much of a coincidence. But, they couldn't have known that he was going to do that. So..  
  
It seemed the best course of action would be to stay, and met this "representative." And maybe get some of this cleared up. And until then, he'd just keep a hold of the late Dr. Luaghton's work.  
  
  
  
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She'd made her way downstairs to the ground level, and to near the restaurant. And came to a complete and sudden stop when she noticed a familiar head of red-hair by the registry desk in the lobby.  
  
Almost as if sensing her presence, the head turned, to show a milky white complex, dark green eyes, a face that belonged to a tall, slender body. Mari White. Dr. Mari White. Oh crap.  
  
Those eyes searched the crowds, and came to a stop, meeting Basil's own large grey eyes, and gaze. Pulling away from the registry desk, the woman made her way across the lobby, to when Basil stood frozen on the other side of the glass door leading into the large lobby. Smiling as she pushed the doors open, and coming face to face, that calm, collected voice belonging to the redhead spoke. "Well, hello Basil. It's good to see you alive and well."  
  
She could speak, couldn't even find her voice, even her thoughts felt frozen as she stared back at the confident woman opposite of her.  
  
Smiling back, those dark green eyes narrowed, Mari touched Basil's arm, "I think we have quite a bit to talk about, don't you? Perhaps we should go outside." She could do nothing but follow blindly as Mari White lead her out of the building, and out among the crowds of people, onto the street.  
  
  
  
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Kenichi was packing his bags again. Things had gone badly in Belovbor, he hadn't been much help anyways, and now, Atlas and the other were preparing to leave as well. Kenichi'd been able to book on the first flight out that he'd been able to, but the others had decided to wait until tomorrow, tying up some loose ends. Kenichi wasn't really sure if he wanted to know what those loose ends were. All he really wanted now was to get back to Metropolis, and start working on Tima again. He'd been able to compose a list of what equipment he need while in Belvobor, the hard part would be getting it.  
  
He sighed. Atlas'd taken it hard when they'd been dismissed. Kenichi just hoped he wouldn't take a violent course after this, like what had happened during the revolution. It wouldn't help if that happened again.  
  
  
  
He was very surprised when he ran into Jonathon once again at the airport, in the terminal for boarding onto a flight to Metropolis. "Jonathon?"  
  
The older man turned back towards him, surprise written all over his face. "Kenichi? Don't tell me that you are also flying to Metropolis?"  
  
"What do you mean, also?" Shaking his head the other man snorted well naturedly, "Evidently also. What business do you have in Metropolis?" The green haired boy glanced at him for a moment, then "Well, I live there, now anyways."  
  
The man raised an eyebrow. "Ah, I'm confused now. Did things not go well, then with the Panel, for you to be returning?"  
  
Kenichi looked away. "No. They've been dismissed. They're leaving tomorrow as well, I was just lucky to be able to get the first flight out.. I've...things to do, back in Metropolis, so." Looking at Jonathon, "what about you?"  
  
"Oh, Well, I'm meeting someone there; someone my employer hired a while ago, and now needs me to meet with, for a new task, and such."  
  
"Don't you have a case before the panel here also though?"  
  
Jonathon's good natured face closed for a few seconds, "We won't, if things don't go well." And that was the end of that conversation.  
  
  
  
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Well, it'd looked like things were coming his way, when the girl had left the apartment, to wander downstairs. He'd been just about ready to grab her when some other chick came along and dragged her out onto the street, and into the crowd. Which wasn't that bad, actually. Now it would be that much easier, without witnesses, and him having to get the girl out of the building.  
  
But, he was going to have to get rid of the red-head. Fingering the gun in the inside pocket of his coat, he hurried to keep up with the two.  
  
  
  
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Mari jerked Basil suddenly off to the side. They somehow managed to get close to some gates, with signs saying "Zone-1" Oh, right. Metropolis was a city of several levels, and to get to the various levels, you had to go through gates, Basil remembered, bringing up the facts that she read, and seen on the TV, about Metropolis.  
  
The lighting was darker, with large, bulky buildings blocking the sunlight, florescent lights coming into action to light the gat access areas. Dr. Mari had pulled her off to the side, blocked off from the sight of the gates. And most people.  
  
Leaning back against the wall, the older woman sighed. "Jezz, I could really use a smoke about now." Basil glanced over at her, finally able to find her voice, "Those aren't good for you, you do know."  
  
"I don't need you telling me what's good for me." The woman replied irritably, "I'm the one who tells you that garbage." Basil was silent.  
  
Finishing a cigarette out of her shoulder bag, and lighting it, the woman breathed deeply, and then, shoulders relaxing, she glanced over at Basil under narrowed lashes. "So, Bas. What happened? Why'd you and Jizanda disappear like that, without a word, and leaving a bit of a mess like that behind? You left Dr. Oshko in a bad spot back there." The blue haired girl shifted, frowning slightly.  
  
"Dr. Kaybo."  
  
Mari white glanced over, "yeah, what about him?"  
  
"Is he dead?"  
  
The red-head almost choked on her cigarette. "Eh?"  
  
"Jizanda shot him."  
  
Nodding, green eyes narrowed, Mari answered, "we know. The Swedish police are charging her with attempted murder. There's a warrant out for her."  
  
"Attempted? He's alive then?"  
  
"Yes. Very much so." And suddenly, Mari was holding a small, tidy pistol in her hand, aiming at Basil. "But you won't be. Neither you nor Dr. Mieeki."  
  
"Ah.I..." Basil froze for a second as she sized up matters. Her only escape was to make a run for it, and hope Dr. Mari White would not try anything in a crowd. But, there was plenty of time for a bullet to find its way into her back as she turned and the few steps it would take to become in sight of other people. But, that didn't explain why the hell there was a gun being pointed at her..  
  
  
  
You must see it as investments...  
  
Really, you are so pig-headed Mieeki! Oshko will thank me for this one day.  
  
But SHE knows...SHE knows every damned thing, because every damned thing is in the computers, and SHE controls them, you know SHE does....we've seen HER do it....  
  
Oh yes it did.  
  
She bolted. And prayed that Dr. White couldn't aim.  
  
Someone up there was listening, because the first two shots missed, and then Basil was out, among the crowds, ducking and weaving between people, trying to put as much distance between her and that crazy woman as possible.  
  
Up ahead were the gates going to from the lower Zones, she'd have to avoid those, darting off to the side, the blue haired girl bolted across the street, trying to dodge the hover cars. Turning to the right, she thought over the best course of action as she ran, to go back to the apartment, where Jizanda was, or not..Dr. Mari had said that Jizanda would die too...why..because Jizanda also knew. Or half way did.  
  
She was running out of breath, and when she'd looked over her shoulder, she could see a red head of hair pushing its way through the people left in her wake.her grey eyes lighted up, ahead was trolley, prefect!  
  
Fumbling in her pocket as she ran, she dashed up the steps of the trolley, and poring the change into the fare-slot, made her way to back of the trolley, and collapsed in a heap. She was safe.for the moment..  
  
Sighing, and letting her head fall on her knees, she trembled, Jizanda had been right. They were trying to kill her. Dr. Kaybo and now, Dr. Mari. Dr. Kaybo had been one of the senior, and founding Doctors, along with Jizanda Mieeki, and Dr. Samuel Oshko, and Mari had been one of the young additions to the project.  
  
Why? WhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhyWHY?  
  
That thought screamed through her head. WHY would they kill her? Why? It made no sense. She'd never tell. They didn't have to worry about that, unless Dr. Oshko asked, she'd never breathe a word of it. She was too scared to. They must know that.  
  
But.maybe they didn't..  
  
***********  
  
Luck of all luck, seats had been completely screwed up on the flight and Kenichi and Jonathon had ended up by the back of the plane, seated in a row together. "Small world." Jonathon commented as he dropped his carryon bags into the baggage rack above the seats, except for one he kept with him.  
  
Kenichi nodded, it did seem odd that Jonathon was going to Metropolis the same time as him. "So, who are you meeting in Metropolis?" He asked as the older man sat down, Jonathon giving him a quick look, and then shrugging, as if to say 'it's no big secret', "I'm meeting a detective there that Dr. Oshko hired for find some information that is critical to our case. I'm to retrieve the information, as you know what kind of state the postal services are in, and ask for some other help."  
  
"How odd. My uncle is a detective."  
  
Jonathon looked surprised for a moment, "oh? That must be quite interesting. Do you work with him?"  
  
"I use to. But I've been working on something for the past couple years.." Kenichi's large brown eyes turned sad as he stared at the seat in front of him. Jonathon let this past for a few moments, "What kind of something?"  
  
Kenichi felt no urge to tell him the whole truth, although he did feel he could trust the older man to some extent. "Robotic work, mostly."  
  
"Really?!" Sudden interest flood through Jonathon's voice as he leaned forward, brown eyes bright, "what kind of robotic work?" Kenichi was a bit taken back by the other's sudden enthusiasm, blinking in surprise, "just...just normal robotic workings, putting together and stuff."  
  
"How very interesting. Robotics is a fascinating line of work; one I enjoy very much myself."  
  
"Uh...huh?" Kenichi was completely confused now.  
  
Jonathon on the other hand, was getting on a roll, "My line of work deals much with the inter-workings of robotics, mostly the intelligence factors, and maintaining those. I've been working with my employer now for several years on an interesting project dealing with that."The older man flushed suddenly, "ah, I mean, things like that."  
  
Kenichi on the other hand, was suddenly very interested as well, this sounded like much of the work that he needed to do on Tima, if he was ever going to be able to rebuild her, maybe he'd be able to get some information from Jonathon on this! "What kind of project?"  
  
Jonathon looked very uncomfortable for a moment, "well, I'm not suppose to say, it has been under tight wraps. But it deals with infusing human tissue and robotic intelligence; it's been very helpful in medical advancements."  
  
And moving right along to suspicion. This sounded very, very close to what Dr. Luaghton was known for..  
  
  
  
*******************  
  
Click.  
  
Cold fear flooded through her entire being.  
  
"Get up." The voice was cold and full of contempt. Mari. Basil lifted her head from where she'd been resting it on her knees; the red haired woman stood in front of her where Basil was sitting on the last seat of the trolley, Mari's lips curled slightly back, the gun in her hand. There was no way she could miss this close.  
  
She was scared.  
  
And completely surprised when Mari's face went completely blank with pain for a moment, eyes fluttering closed as she slumped partly onto the seat and floor. Grey eyes going wide, Basil stared at the person standing behind where Dr. Mari White had been; face blank as she blinked hard in surprise.  
  
And one moment later was jerked to her feet by the young man, and practically dragged off the trolley as it stopped, others departing as well. He pushed his way through the crowds at a quick walk, pulling her along behind him, Basil stumbling as she followed him blindly. They broke into a run at the edge of the crowd, moving away from the crowds.in fact, Basil realized, back the same way she'd come from.but by a different route, they crossed over several streets, and had ducked through five backways, the young man constantly alert as he pulled her along after him. Basil glanced behind several times, was someone following them? But Mari was unconscious back on the trolley, unless...someone else. The gates to the lower Zones loomed up ahead of them, as did more people.  
  
She was jerked suddenly over, into a small dead end backway, and was pushed against the wall, the youth still with an iron grip on her wrist. She bent over, hand braced on her knee, as she tried to catch her breath, winded from the running.  
  
Another click and she glanced from under her bangs to notice the youth now had a gun in his free hand, and all of his attention diverted towards the opening of the backway. Several moments went by, giving Basil enough time to both catch her breath and take notes of this young man. Taller than her by a good five inches, he wore a bulky jacket that hid much of his physic, had brown hair that peeked out from under a baseball cap, and hid his eyes with funky 80's shades. Her quick inspection of the youth was ended abruptly as he relaxed, and lowered his gun, turning his attention towards her.  
  
It was then that Basil found her voice, "Who...who are you? Why." She broke off as he released his grip on her wrist and leaned closer, she could almost feel him intently studying her from behind the glasses that hid his eyes.  
  
She took a step back, against the wall, trying to break the suddenly uncomfortable silence, "t...thank you.for helping me."  
  
Chills ran through her body as the young man finally spoke, with a quite, confident and cocky tone, "Oh, I wouldn't be thanking me just yet if I were you." With that, he lunged, grabbing her upper arm and pulled her close, running his free hand up the curve of her jaw to just below the ear, and jabbed hard into the pressure point. Lights exploding in her vision, Basil crumpled into darkness as she slumped forward into the stranger's waiting arms.  
  
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Notes: Well, there we go! That chapter's FINILLY finished. *grumbles* Anyways, other chapters will be along shortly, and next chapter, we might get to find out what happened to Duke Red and that gang! Might..depends on how hard the next chapter makes me work.  
  
And for those wondering, we have pressure points under our ears. Just trying pushing your finger in below your ear. Hurts, neh? Push really hard and you can knock yourself out. But remember kids, don't try this at home! (Or try it out on your younger siblings; parents tend to frown on that kinda thing. That and shoving carrots up your nose...)  
  
Site-plug: And once again, site plug! Visit my Metropolis fansite at www.geocities.com/xalan_met/index.html And sign the guestbook! The counter says people are visiting, so there's no excuse! And you can see lots of my Metropolis fanart at my side7 gallery http://www.side7.com/cgi- bin/S7SDB/Archive.pl?ANO=7237 (Comment!) 


	7. Chapter Seven: In which more things hap...

By Any Other Name  
  
Chapter Seven: In which more happens  
  
Written by Xalan  
  
Notes: Well, this chapter practically wrote itself. So nice when it works out like that. ^_^ I'm very proud of myself that I managed to type this up in a week and a half! Whoot! That's a new record for me.  
  
Thanks to everyone who's been so nice and reviewed! I love hearing other people's thoughts and comments. ^_^ Thank you! A big hug to all of you nice people!  
  
  
  
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The first thing she felt when she came to was a throbbing headache. Her whole head pounded, and felt like the time she'd rolled down a large slope with her skis still attached, and had smacked her head on a large piece of granite that had been hidden just under the snow. Well, granted, without the bump on her head...  
  
When the spots stopped flashing in front of her eyes, it took a few moments for them to adjust to the dark-lit room.  
  
Where was she?  
  
Sitting up slowly, allowing the throbbing in her head to slowly subside, she took notes of her surroundings. She was resting in a cubby-bunk, in a small room, with only bare walls and a door. A small but heavily built table-stand was the only accessory to the small room, resting in a corner. Sliding off the bunk, Basil wobbled for a moment, but regained her balance.  
  
The door didn't open when she tried, either locked or stuck. Locked it was, as even pushing hard against it only left her with a sore shoulder. Sighing, she sat back down on the bunk, and tried to regain sense of what happened. Dr. Mari was in Metropolis. She'd found her and Jizanda, which meant that the other doctors knew where she was as well. Dr. Mari had also tried to kill her, and then she'd been rescued, only to fall into the hands of.whoever the young man was.  
  
Speaking of which, where was he?  
  
  
  
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So immersed in her work as she was, Jizanda had no inkling of the young girl slipping out the apartment. Sighing and stretching out abruptly, careful of her bruised and broken left arm, she clicked save on her work, and turning the laptop off, she wandered out into the main living room. Basil was nowhere in sight, but the doctor assumed the girl was in one of the other rooms.  
  
Poring herself a cup of tea, Jizanda leaned back against one of the counter tops, staring out of one the large windows along the south wall. Damn, but she'd missed living in luxuries like this....living in a chalet in Sweden was, contrary to popular beliefs, not extremely pleasant. Cold weather, generators, living far from the closest source of civilization, and a small one at that, was not her idea of comfort. But, she'd been raised in populated, WARM places, so..//eh.  
  
Slipping from the cup, she glanced up to notice out of the corner of her eyes, and then as she swung her head fully around, a medium sized bearded man, holding a large scoped rifle aimed at her from the entry way of the kitchen.  
  
Holy freaking cow.  
  
"Can..I help you?" Slowly setting the cup aside, she made eye contact with the man, who just cocked the safely off the rifle and moved across the room until he was just a couple feet away, staring back at her with cold, calculating black eyes.  
  
Ok-ay....this wasn't good.... "What the hell do you want?" Her face wrinkled in distaste as she snapped at the man, finally getting some kind of reaction. "It'd be nice if you'd shut up." There was no warmth in that cold voice. "It'd make my job a lot easier."  
  
Jizanda was by no means a stupid woman, far from it, she got the drift in seconds, and latched onto the reason why the hell a strange man was pointing the business end of a high powered rifle at her within another couple seconds. "You're from Minii Kaybo." She stated flatly, smirking inwardly as the man blinked blankly for a moment, partly caught off guard. She took that moment to drop off the counter top, ramming into the man's stomach with her uninjured shoulder, jumping back and grabbing onto the rifle's barrel with her right hand as the man stumbled backwards. Kicking hard into his skin, she wrenched the rifle from his grasp, only for him to drop her with a hard right hook, leaving her stunned for a second, blinking in pain and surprise.  
  
As he scrabbled for the gun, she stumbled to her feet, holding her jaw with her right hand, jerks of pain running up and down her broken left arm as she cradled it inward to herself, she ran for one of the adjoining rooms, she needed to find a phone...quickly..  
  
She could hear the man cursing now as he found the gun, and pursued her, dodging into one of the guest bedrooms, she slammed the door practically in his face, fumbling with the lock as he pounded hard on the door hard against her. There, it'd hold for a few moments, stumbling across the room to where a phone laying on a table stand next to one of the beds, she hurriedly picked it up, fumbling with the buttons. Breathe, breathe deeply, panicking won't help..  
  
The door crunched open, one of the hinges holding the upper corner came flying off as the man stumbled into the room, dark eyes wild. Oh crud....her bag lay open only a few feet away, throwing herself across the small space, she ripped the zipper open, and jerked the .44 colt pistol out. The man crossed the room in the same amount of time it took her to pull the pistol up, and with amazing clearness of mind, Jizanda fired point blank at the man.  
  
He dropped like a lead bull, the rifle rolling across the floor, and all was silent for a moment, except for her own deep breathing.  
  
Gun still in her right hand, she crawled across the room, ready to fire if he twitched. But the man was completely still. Pushing him over on his side, Jizanda saw the reason why. A bullet hole was very neatly placed between his eyes, which stared blankly into space.  
  
Oh Dear Lord.....She'd killed someone....a stiff drink about now would be good.  
  
  
  
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Another half hour and it'd be about time to make the ransom call. It'd give them enough time to panic a bit, but not enough for them to start calling the police. There was a phone over on the other side of Zone-1 he'd use in case Jihad Shov had a tracer on his phone system.  
  
Rock smirked to himself, he'd finally hit gold. All that was left was to call, and then to wait.  
  
Speaking of which, he should check up on the kid, and see if she'd come out of it yet, she'd still been unconscious when he'd left her locked in one of the smaller rooms off one of the hallways, after quickly checking to make sure she was in fact still alive and breathing, you had to be careful using that pressure point, jab too hard and you'd kill them. Wouldn't do to have a dead victim after all, although, it would be much easier to handle. No matter, the victim seemed pretty helpless; she hadn't even tried to help herself when the red-headed chick'd tried to shoot her.  
  
Footsteps sounding down the hall, he slowly unlocked the door, the kid should be awake about now, it'd been a good five hours. Pushing the door open, he was completely taken by surprise when he stuck his head into the room only to get soundly whacked upside the head with a heavy drawer.  
  
Only his quick reflexes kept him from getting the thing square on the head, instead, it glanced off, leaving him reeling for a second, his sunglasses sliding off to the ground. The girl holding the drawer hesitated for a second, that split second hesitation proved to be her undoing. Knocking into her with his shoulder, causing the girl to stumble off balance, his other hand came up and wrenched the drawler out of her grasp, flinging it across the room. Catching her upper arm, and grabbing her other wrist as she tried to hit him, he literally threw her across the room into the cubby- bunk. She didn't move after that, only to roll over onto her back and stare at him with wide opened eyes.  
  
Picking the drawer up from where it laid, he shoved it back into the small table stand in the corner, and bending over to pick his sunglass up off the floor and place them back over his eyes; her stalked over to the cubby and glared down at the girl.  
  
"What the hell was that?" He had to force his voice to come out calm and collected, but the tight expression on his face clearly stated his anger.  
  
The girl stared back up at him, no words coming to her lips.  
  
Staring at her coldly, Rock decided to make the rules clear, "Now, listen here little girl. If you want to stay alive, there'd better be no more of that kindda crap. You try to hit me again with that, or any other object," he made a gun with his fingers, "Bang. You're dead. Got it?"  
  
Wordlessly, she nodded, large grey eyes fixed on his face.  
  
"Good." Turning to leave, and find something cold to put on his now throbbing head, Rock grumbled to himself.  
  
"Ah....I....I've got to go to the bathroom."  
  
Oh crud........  
  
  
  
***********************  
  
  
  
Jihad frowned as he pushed open the door to his apartment, hadn't he told Jizanda to leave it locked? He spotted neither the older doctor nor the young girl within the living room or kitchen as he entered, glancing around, "Jizanda? Basil?"  
  
The room was silent for a moment, and then, "I'm in here."  
  
Jizanda's voice sounded strained and harsh, frown deepening; Jihad tossed his overcoat onto the couch and blinked in complete surprise at the state of the door leading to the larger guestroom. It hung off to the side, hooked only by the middle and bottom hinges. Looking past the door, his eyebrows shot up as he surveyed the scene behind the broken door, Jizanda sitting in a heap on the carpeted floor, ash brown hair rumpled and a .44 colt pistol in her right hand, eyes staring blankly at a man laying face down on the floor, a large red puddle spreading out from around the head.  
  
"...."  
  
The older woman's haze eyes blinked, and her stare shifted towards him, glasses perched on the very tip of her nose. "I shot him. I believe he's dead." Her voice was completely flat, as if she was talking about a small stain on a carpet, or a dead bug in the drain.  
  
"......" Jihad, for once in his life, was completely wordless. Coming home to find your sister-in-law flatly stating that she'd just killed a man, who was now making quite a mess on his cream colored carpet, was not an everyday occurrence.  
  
Coming out of his shock, Jihad crossed the room in just a couple quick strides, kneeling by Jizanda's side; he stared into the unblinking dark eyes of the man. His stomach shifted, and he could almost feel his lunch about to come back up. "I.........think you're right about that." The man was dead, no argument there.  
  
At the first words out of his mouth, she stared at him for a second, and then lost it. Jizanda crumpled down into the floor, crying and laughing alternately, hysterical sobs ripping out of her throat. Jihad's own dark eyes widened for a second as he stared in shock once again at the doctor, then the fact that the woman was having a nervous breakdown registered in his mind. Carefully pulling her up to her feet, the woman clinging to his arm as if terrified to let go, Jihad spoke to her in a firm, quite voice, "Jizanda, we're going to go out into the kitchen, and I'm going to shut the door. Then, I'm going to get you a cup of brandy, and you're going to sit down, breathe deeply, and drink the entire thing, all right?" As he quietly persuaded her out the door, and into a chair near the counter, he left her sight for only a moment to shut the door leading to the guest bedroom as well as he could. Then returning, he fumbled for a moment in the wine cabinet, and then pulling out two glasses, he pored both himself and Jizanda a large drink.  
  
The ash brown haired woman had stopped making any noise, just sipped out of her glass silently, eyes unfocused ahead of her. Sitting down across from her, Jihad took a large swallow out of his own, then setting the glass back down on the counter top, leaned forward.  
  
"All right then. Now that we've calmed down a bit, why don't you tell me about what happened in here."  
  
The older woman just stared ahead blankly into space for a few moments, and then surprisingly to Jihad, sighed, and hazel eyes regaining their focus, she glanced at him from under lowered lids, looking ten years older.  
  
"I was working. I came for a cup of tea, and a break, and ..suddenly, there was a man in front of me, with a gun; I think it's in the room, and... I caught him off guard, and managed to get away from him. I tried to dial for help, but then he knocked the door down, I'm sorry about that by the way, and I....I didn't even think, I had my bag open and was shooting him before I knew it." As her voice wavered, she closed her mouth tightly, biting down on her lip.  
  
Jihad nodded, "Right then." Patting her arm gently, "Next question, do you know who he was? Or why he'd broken in?"  
  
Jizanda sighed. "Who he is, no. Why, yes. He was from Kaybo."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Dr. Minii Kaybo. He....he, Dr. Oshko, and I were the senior partners of Ocean's End Research Association."  
  
"Right then, please go on. I think you need to tell me why one of your partners, and such a distinguished man of Sweden medical research would try to knock you off." Now this was interesting, and Jihad wanted to get to the bottom of this little mystery. The woman hesitated, and then shrugged, "Probably because I shot him."  
  
The Governor just about fell off his chair at that. "wha....... For God's sake, Jizanda, you CAN'T just go around shooting people!"  
  
"I didn't start off with trying to shoot him! He tried to kill me first!"  
  
"What the hell is the matter with you people?! Is everyone in the freaking world trying to kill off everyone else?!"  
  
"What the hell's the matter with you?! Stop yelling at me!"  
  
Sitting back and taking a deep breath; and closing his dark brown eyes for a moment, when Jihad spoke again it was with much more control, "Start at the beginning. And don't tell me it's classified!" He added as her mouth opened.  
  
Glaring back at him, Jizanda started speaking. "A little more than a week ago, I came into the lab. Everyone was supposed to be off duty."  
  
"I'm assuming this is in Sweden, since that is where the O.E.R.A's main research facility."  
  
"Yes." Jizanda glanced coldly at him for interrupting her, then composing herself, continued. "Dr. Kaybo was in the lab, working with the computers, at which I was surprised, since the lab'd been closed for the night. She liked to sleep alone when in the sterilizing container, so we usually shut down at night."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Don't get ahead of me! And stop interrupting. As I was saying..."  
  
The phone rang then, loudly, causing both to jump. Jihad was the first to pick up the cordless phone, "Governor Jihad Shov speaking."  
  
"Hello Governor Shov." The voice on the other end was quite, but very confident sounding. Something didn't quite feel right.. "Can I help you?"  
  
Jizanda was staring at him with a suspicious look, "who is it?" Waving her off, Jihad turned around, "Hello? Who is this?"  
  
"That's not really any of your concern. How's little Basil?"  
  
"....What? What are you talking about, the girl's right...." He turned in time to see Jizanda's eyes widen as she realized about the same time as him that neither had seen the young blue haired girl. Turning back to the phone, face now set in a determine frown, "Who are you and what do you want?"  
  
"Just relax Governor. All I want is access to some information, and as long as you keep the cops, and everyone else out of this, little Basil will be home safe and sound within the week."  
  
"What.kind of information?" Jihad suddenly found himself praying that that this was some kind of prank...or that the person wanted information surrounding a bank account, or money....not REAL information..that could prove dangerous...  
  
"Information surrounding a certain person."  
  
For the millionth time that hour, Jihad's deep brown eyes widened in surprise as the person on the other end gave instructions....this wasn't good.....as the phone went dead he continued holding it, staring at the wall. "What did they want? Who was it?!" Jizanda was at his side now, her own hazel eyes wide, with a hint of panic lurking in their depths.  
  
Jihad slowly replaced the phone back on the receiver, staring straight ahead. "Jihad?" He turned slowly towards her, his dark face suddenly very pale. "Whoever it is...he's kidnapped Basil, and in return, wants..."  
  
"Kaybo..."  
  
"What....oh, no. It's someone from within Metropolis, I'm positive of that."  
  
Jizanda tilted her head, puzzled, "how do you know that?"  
  
"He.he wants any information surrounding Duke Red since the fall of the Ziggurat.."  
  
The two just stared at each other blankly for a moment. Jizanda broke off first, reaching for the bottle of brandy, she popped open the top, pulled out a large mug and poring over half the bottle into it, drained the whole thing in one long swallow.  
  
  
  
***********************  
  
  
  
Replacing the phone back on the receiver, Rock felt a wave of relief. It was all in action now. Jihad Shov was supposed to be a cooperative man, and hopefully he'd live up to that, and just fulfill the terms that he'd set.  
  
The young man sighed deeply; finally, he'd be able to find out if his "father" was in fact still alive. Rock had idea what had happened, from the moment that he'd pushed the button, to the moment he'd awoken in a random hospital bed nine days later, that time had been a complete blur. His injures had been extensive, from the bullet wound in his stomach, to the many bruises, and broken bones he'd suffered from the fall of the main tower of the Ziggurat. He had no idea how in the world he'd survived the explosion and the huge pile of twisted metal and stone that the Ziggurat had become.  
  
He'd stayed in the hospital for a long time, he'd had neither motivation nor energy, not to mention the wounds that kept him in and out of it for quite a while, to move from the small bed from where he'd laid in both a dreamless and nightmare filled sleep. But one question constantly plagued his thoughts, had Duke Red survived?  
  
From the moment he'd been released from the over crowded hospital, his every waking moment had been devoted to finding out if his father had indeed died in the fall of the Ziggurat, or if the Duke still lived. Information continued to elude him at every turn, the infamous Duke Red seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet. Rock could find no information leading to the fact that he might be still alive, but very little leading to wether the Duke was dead. No death report had been reported on his behalf, and that was all that kept Rock going at moments.  
  
But just a couple months ago, he'd found something vaguely mentioning that if even if Duke Red was still alive, there'd be no way that information would be available to the public. It was the kind of thing that could cause a small civil war, and with Metropolis still in such a fragile state, such a thing must be avoided at all costs.  
  
But now with Governor Jihad, whom had accesses to quite a bit of the inter workings of Metropolis; he'd be able to find out if that was for sure true. After that, he'd just have to wing it from there.  
  
Rock broke out of his thoughts with a shake of his head, now was no time to be daydreaming about what had happened. He had a mission, and he was going to fulfill it. Speaking of which, the food in the paper sack was starting to get cold. The kid'd mentioned something about being rather hungry, so he'd stopped by one of the small vendor stands when he'd gone to find a phone to use.  
  
He was more careful this time entering the room, the kid'd surprised the hell out of him last time by trying to attack him with the drawer, and even though he didn't think she'd try it again, he didn't want to take any chances. There was still a slight throbbing in his head from where she'd managed to hit him with it.  
  
The kid was sitting on the floor staring intently at something when he unlocked and pushed the door open, her head jerking up as she stared back at him with a suspicious look in her large grey eyes.  
  
"Here." He tossed the bag to her, a little surprised when she managed to catch it. She carefully opened the paper sack, pulling out a hotdog and potato fries. She glanced up at him, this time slightly puzzzled. "Go ahead, eat it." He replied curtly to the unasked question as he leaned against the door, waiting for her to finish.  
  
She dropped her eyes again, and ungainly picked up the hotdog, began to nibbled on it, staring at the floor. Rock rolled his eyes from behind his sunglasses, well, at least the kid hardly talked at all. He took the moment to size her up again; his first really good look at her had been in the dead-way, just before knocking her out. The kid was short, not much more than five feet tall he'd guess, with a childish build still, giving a very young impression. Still, he'd guess her to be from 13 to 15, the intelligence in her eyes gave away the childish look, adopting instead for a more innocent impression. She had long blue hair that seemed unable to make up its mind to be straight or wavy, with bangs that hid much of a heart shaped face, including large, grey eyes.  
  
The eyes had thrown him off for a moment; they were just too far intelligent to be those of a child. Innocent yes, but very quick and clever. And grey eyes at that. Grey eyes have a tendency to be cold and cunning, but these....  
  
Hmph. Grey eyes were grey eyes. Even if he'd been reminded of that damn robot Tima's eyes for just a second, that same expression reflected in them, that was just crazy thinking on his part. If the kid was a robot like Tima, he'd been unable to affect her by jabbing her in the pressure point just below the ear.  
  
She was finished with the food, and was now staring straight back at him levelly, unblinking. Rock frowned a bit in surprise, the kid'd eaten all of the food when he'd been busy sizing her up, and the way she now stared back at him unblinking was a bit un-nerving, even to him.  
  
"Who are you?" It was only the third sentence she'd said to him, and as she asked, she tilted her head to the side, regarding him now not with fear, but with curious interest and caution. Striding across the tiny room, Rock kneeled down to her level where she sat, and almost forcing himself to stare back into those large grey orbs, he paused for a moment, puzzled at himself for answering, "Rock."  
  
She blinked back, his name not registering. That was good.  
  
"Thank you ..for the food." Now it was his turn to blink in surprise, thankful for his beloved sunglasses that hid his own startling bright blue eyes, "uh...You're welcome." Well, that was bit of a turnaround; he wasn't use to being thanked. Picking up the paper sack and rising to his feet, Rock took one last look at the girl before exiting the room, locking the door once more.  
  
  
  
**********************  
  
  
  
Ding  
  
The young Governor of Metropolis and a tall older woman stepped into the elevator of the MetroPlex Building alone, each with a serious expression on their face. Hands folded behind his back, Jihad stared at the smooth polished mahogany wall of the elevator, his face quite and composed; the stress and worry hidden under his confident air.  
  
Next to him, Jizanda was still a bit woozy from her sudden excessive drinking spree, her face tired, but hazel eyes still bright from behind her glasses. It had been a stressful afternoon, and now, Jihad's sudden silence and reserved air was putting her on edge. Any of his boyish charm has disappeared in the past couple hours as he'd faltered about what to do. He'd said little to her, and had lain on the couch, fingers rubbing his temples, ignoring both Jizanda, the ringing telephone and the dead body just in the other room.  
  
The elevator came to a halt on the 20th floor, Jihad and Jizanda stepping off, and entering the receptionist area. As he walked by, Jihad stopped for a moment by his secretary's spacious desk, "Marci?"  
  
The round little blonde glanced up from the papers on her desk, blinking, "Mr. Shov? I thought you were leaving for the day..."  
  
"Something came up. I would like you to do some research on this," at this he handed a small folder over to her, "and have the results in my office within the hour. Discretion would be appreciated."  
  
Marci took the file from him, two tasteful bracelets clinking together on her wrist as she flipped the file open. Brown eyes widening in surprise, she looked after her employer's retreating back as he open the door to his office, allowing the doctor to enter first, and following, closing the door behind him. Turning back to her desk with a puzzled look in her eyes, Marci shrugged it off, and began clicking away at her keyboard, lips set in determine line.  
  
  
  
Inside, Jihad made his way to his comfortable chair behind the large mahogany desk, and leaning back, studied the ceiling. Jizanda stood for a moment, and then pulling a chair up, "Jihad..."  
  
"I'm not going to do it."  
  
His tone was stern and firm as he continued to stare at the ceiling, hands folded behind his head. Jizanda startled in surprise, "what do you mean?"  
  
"I am NOT going to ransom a girl I hardly know, abet a nice one, but one that is none of my concern all the same, for information that is potentially dangerous. It is none of my concern, and is a risk I'm not willing to take."  
  
It took all the self control Jizanda had at that moment to not haul back and knock Jihad back on his smug little bum.  
  
Evidently Jihad could felt the sudden chill in the room, and sitting back up, looked Jizanda square in the eye. "I know that sounds selfish of me Jizanda and I'm still not clear on how you know this girl, and yes she's a nice little child, but...." The young man sighed forcefully, still not entirely liking himself for the decision he'd come to.  
  
"Duke Red built the Ziggurat. He was also closely associated with President Boon. For the past couple decades, Robots have slowly begun replacing humans in most manners of labor, and occupations. Now this sort of stuff builds up resentment, and while the upper class of Metropolis lived well off the robotic labor, the citizens of Zone-1 didn't, still don't in fact.  
  
The Ziggurat was a hateful reminder of this, and weather or not we acknowledge it, the lower and middle class citizens are the ones who will place, and displace in the end, the balance of power. When the Ziggurat fell, and President Boon was found assassinated, and Duke Red, and the other leaders of Metropolis at the time missing or dead, there was chaos. But, there was also a sort of peace, with the ones behind whatever scheme had been thought up behind the Ziggurat dead or missing, there was nothing to fear from that avenue anymore. And then efforts, thoughts and minds were turned towards humans resuming jobs, and positions robots currently hold.  
  
But....if information that one of those men were still alive was leaked to the public, nay, even the inner circle itself, panic would rise. And while it was Duke Red whom commissioned and built the Ziggurat, he was very powerful, very popular, and had quite a fortune backing him. The politicians would fight among themselves to either destroy him, or bring him to back them in the politic struggle. The citizens would be torn between anger and fear, and loyalty.  
  
It would be one hell of a mess.  
  
I can not allow that to happen, if it is within my power." Jihad ended with that, and a sigh. The future was not looking bright.  
  
"Damn." Jizanda's voice was quite and soft in the silence as she stared at her hands, brows furrowed in thought.  
  
"Yes....damn would about sum it up." The mask fell from Jihad's face; he too looked far too tired for his young age. "Jizanda...I'm sorry. Really." There was an unspoken apology that hung between them, for years long ago, and a life long ago.  
  
The older woman shrugged. "Whatever." She rose to her feet, and looked him in the eye. "Just for your information, I expect you to find her. You don't have to trade information," here she spat the word out, with distaste, "but you can at least give me something to go off so that I might be able to find Basil."  
  
Jihad regarded her quietly; face expressionless as Jizanda turned, and walked out the door, shutting it forcefully behind her. He sat in silence for a long time, eyes never leaving the door.  
  
When it opened again, close to an hour later, Marci had a full file in her hand.  
  
"Mr. Shov, sir?"  
  
He nodded for her to hand the file to him, looking quickly through the contents, "That was rather quick to retrieve all of this...."  
  
"Mr. Shov, you hired me for my computer skills, remember?"  
  
"Hmm...that's right..." he studied the papers for long time, leaving Marci to wonder if she should leave. When he looked up again however, "It's inconclusive."  
  
The blonde woman nodded curtly, "Of course it is. There's only so much even I can do in an hour sir."  
  
"I suppose you're right about that too.....I want you to finish this. Top priority; push aside everything else. It's very important, understand?" His secretary nodded, "Yes sir." Before she turned to go, Jihad spoke up once again, "Marci?"  
  
"Yes sir?"  
  
"Do you remember that young blue haired girl that came with Dr. Mieeki a couple days ago?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Find out who she is."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"Her given name is Basil Oshko. I believe she's from Sweden originally." Jihad sat up in his chair, "As a hunch, I doubt she has a birth certificate. Work from there." Marci blinked a bit in surprise, "Sir? No birth certificate? But, she'd......oh. I'll get on it right away sir."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
  
  
*************  
  
  
  
Shunzaku Ban had been waiting for almost an hour now. The Metropolis International Airport was even more crowded then usual, and several flights were late. The short, round detective checked his watched absent-mindedly, the flight that the representative from the O.E.R.A was on wasn't delayed that much.  
  
It would be interesting to find out what was going on here, and to meet this 'representative'. He'd been surprised when he'd found out that the flight the representative was taking was from Belvodor, a city not far from Metropolis, and not somewhere in Europe. That meant that they were closer than he'd thought. He'd learned this only close to an hour earlier, and hadn't any time to research this little fact further. Something he wasn't pleased about, it was much better to meet people on even ground, rather than having someone playing in the dark and you unaware of it.  
  
  
  
Flight 657 touched down, and coasted up to the exiting terminal, passenger letting out a sigh of relief. Pulling his bags down from the overhead and passing Kenichi's back to him, Jonathon Hunter also felt relived to be in Metropolis. This whole mess was horrible, and he couldn't wait to get it cleared up.  
  
Slowly moving towards the exit, Jonathon turned to Kenichi, "Well, here we are. I wish you good luck with whatever it is that you are working on."  
  
The green haired boy nodded back, but not a freely as he had been before. True, once Jonathon had gone through it all, his work was actually much more different from what Dr. Luaghton had been working on, and now that he thought of it, Jonathon was in almost the prefect line of work as what he'd need to rebuild Tima, but......that slight hint of suspicion remained.  
  
Stepping off the plane, and into the terminal, he breathed a sigh of relief. And worry about Atlas and the others, they'd been struck pretty hard when they'd been dismissed.  
  
"Kenichi?!"  
  
His head jerked up at the sound of his name called out in surprise by a very familiar voice..."Uncle Shunzaku?!" He stared in surprise at the sight of his uncle pushing through the crowd of people departing from the terminal towards him, hand up to hold his hat on.  
  
His uncle swept him up in a tight embrace, "Kenichi, it's good to see you boy!" Kenichi sniffed at the sudden rush of joy he felt at seeing his beloved uncle again, embracing his uncle tightly.  
  
When the two parted, both were a little teary eyed, smiling foolishly at each other. "Uncle Shunzaku, what are you doing in Metropolis?"  
  
"I'm on a case, for the same client as before. But what about you, why were you in Belvodor Kenichi?"  
  
"You two know each other?" Both turned to see a very confused looking Jonathon Hunter, staring in puzzlement at the two. "Oh yes, this is my uncle Shunzaku Ban, he's the detective I was telling you about." Kenichi answered. Jonathon blinked completely in surprise, "you're kidding.....well....small world....."  
  
"Who are you?" Shunzaku asked, also a bit puzzled.  
  
Holding his hand out, Jonathon took a deep breath, "I'm assuming that you're Shunzaku Ban, I'm Dr. Jonathon hunter, from the O.E.R.A, the representative that they sent to meet with you."  
  
"Really, you're from the O.E.R.A.?"  
  
"Yes sir. You informed us that you had the notes...." Jonathon trailed off, and shrugged, "And we did have an extra favor to ask of you as well. My employer, Dr. Oshko, is prepared to pay twice the original price, if you'll agree."  
  
Shunzaku Ban folded his arms, giving Jonathon his best there-had-better-be- no-funny-business look, "It depends on what it is."  
  
Fumbling in his carryon bag for a moment, the young man finally found what he was looking for, and pulled out a folder, handing it to Shunzaku, "The details are in there. If you have any questions, I'm instructed to answer them the best that I can."  
  
  
  
*************  
  
  
  
"Well, sir, you were wrong."  
  
The Governor glanced up from a pile of papers that had been stacked on his desk, with little to do but think at the moment, he'd dug into the large stack of paperwork that needed his attention. Marci was standing in the doorway, two separate files in her hands.  
  
"About?"  
  
"About Basil Oshko not having a birth certificate." Jihad raised an eyebrow, so, he had been off in his assumption then. "Really?"  
  
Laying the smaller of the two files on his desk, the blonde nodded, "Her full name is Basil Madeline Oshko, born 15 years, 2 months and 9 days ago, 5 pounds 3 ounces, in Sweden, the only child of Luaus and Lilia Oshko. Both were med doctors in the war, and died in the field. The child has lived with her Grandfather, a Dr. Samuel Oshko, since she was a baby." Flipping through the file, Marci continued, "She's lived in Sweden all of her life, is very, very bright, the copies of the test results I have in my hand are pretty astonishing, and is the sole heir of Dr. Samuel Oshko. Meaning if he dies she gets quite a bit of money."  
  
Jihad looked up from his copy of the file when Marci stopped and didn't continue, "Yes?"  
  
The secretary hesitated, "That was all I could find. Except..."  
  
"Except...?"  
  
"Samuel Oshko did have a son, whom became a med doctor, and he did marry a Lilia, but.....something stuck me as off about it, and I searched around quite a bit, and Luaus and Lilia died before they ever had a child, unless they gave one up for adoption, which is very improbable. I didn't have time to finish, but...someone went through a lot of trouble to play around with this....the really interesting thing however is that the child's DNA matches their almost perfectly."  
  
Jihad held a hand up, signaling his secretary to stop for a moment. "Now, Marci, what exactly are you telling me?"  
  
She sighed, "I'm not really sure sir. What I've found out is Luaus and Lilia Oshko died before they could have a child. And yet, here is their daughter, and a very bright one at that, with matching DNA, under the guardianship of a Dr. Samuel Oshko who claims she's his granddaughter. That's all I know at the moment."  
  
"How very interesting."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"Dr. Oshko also happens to be a partner of my sister-in-law Jizanda Mieeki....."  
  
"Of the Ocean's End Research Association, located in Sweden, of which he owns almost all of the copyrights and stocks shares in and is one of three senior partners, himself, Dr. Mieeki, and a Dr. Minii Kaybo, and two junior partners, a Dr. Jonathon Hunter and Dr. Mari White. Very well known for their research in stimulating dead nerve-ending with robotic interactions, and their works in covering medical ground. They were the ones whom discovered the cure for that one sickness, Pothl`Lan to use the Latin term, that children were so susceptible to."  
  
Jihad casted an admiring look at his secretary, "Very good Marci. You should have been a detective." The young woman flushed at the praise, "Thank you. I wanted to be one as a child, but decided being a secretary would be better."  
  
"Lucky for me. Now, about the other matter....."  
  
"Oh, right." Setting the smaller file on the desk, Marci pulled the other out and flipped it open, handing him a copy of the contents. "As you can see, there were many reported missing after the Ziggurat exploded. It took weeks to shift through the remains to find the bodies, and most were too mangled to tell apart or distinguish. For the most part, anyone not found in the remains of the Ziggurat were assumed dead. There weren't that many survivors from the tower itself, as one would imagine, which is the last place Duke Red was reported seen.  
  
But, many of the people treated in the hospitals were not identified, as everyone was very under-staffed and in panic afterwards. So he might have slipped through the cracks."  
  
"Not likely. He was too well known for that to have happened."  
  
Marci nodded, "Right. Which means, a) he was found dead, as the public was lead to believe, or b) he was found alive, but sized and treated somewhere else, probably outside of Metropolis, where he could have either died, or lived, but placed under custody. The Ziggurat was found to be a weapon of large proportions after all, and from the little data available, or known, even that would be enough to have him convicted, and we can't begin to imagine what else happened......."  
  
Jihad nodded, face set in a grim frown. "Exactly. Marci, I need you to find out more about that, get me a definite report on that, if Duke Red did live and was placed under custody, or did in fact die, which I hope to god is what happened and this whole mess can be cleared up without further chaos." The woman nodded, picking her filed back up again, "Sir, I'm going to need a higher security access, I was locked out of the system after a short while, and if I'm going to find any records, or files, I'll need it to get through."  
  
"Granted. Consider yourself to have unlimited funds at your disposal as well."  
  
"Thank you sir." She hesitated before exiting the room, glancing back, "sir?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"May I ask why...?"  
  
"I'd rather not at this point in time."  
  
"Of course sir, sorry." She left with that, shutting the door quietly behind her, leaving Jihad once again alone with his thoughts and worries.  
  
  
  
*****************  
  
  
  
Notes: Wow....that was a LONG chapter. Rather proud of myself. Hmm, as for Atlas and co, they show up again in the next chapter, I decided to chop that part out and save it as the first part of the next chapter since this one was getting so long. And yeah, that didn't make much sense, but eh. It's late, I have my jar of Jelly Bellys and my caffeine-filled soda next to me, so nothing I say will make sense! MUHHHAAAHAAAAAA- AAHAAAA!  
  
And uh...yeah. Right. *coughs* I'll just stop talking now and leave all you nice, sane people in peace......as usual, any comment, critics, ect are very much welcomed. ^_^ 


	8. Chapter Eight: Which Xalan finally types

By Any Other Name  
  
Chapter Eight: Which Xalan finally types..  
  
Written by Xalan  
  
Notes: Chapter eight! Yeah, took me long enough. Blah. Evil tests, work, and real-life have been keeping me very busy. And plus I've been a bit stumped on this. But, finally got off my butt, and typed! Chapter nine should be much easier to type..and quicker, lol! Hope you enjoy, and all comments are much welcomed! ^_^  
*****************  
  
"Mr. Shov, you have visitors.."  
  
"Pardon?" Jihad blinked for a few seconds in surprise as Marci's voice came in over the intercom, "Visitors? I thought I said no one was to be admitted in today.."  
  
"Yes, sir I know, but they were rather..insistent, and I think it would be best if you did see them."  
  
The door was pushed violently in at that moment, and amid some protests from a flustered Marci, Atlas and co pushed their way in, Atlas storming up to Jihad, whom was standing up from behind his desk.  
  
With a raised eyebrow, Jihad took the first incentive, "Atlas? I thought you were in Belvodor.."  
  
"We WERE in Belvodor. Until our notion was dismissed!" Atlas' eyes flashed with an angry light, as he came face to face with Jihad, arms crossed across his chest, his whole stance speaking of tension and anger.  
  
Jihad sighed silently to himself; he didn't need this, not right now. Making his voice as peaceful sounding as possible, "What do you mean dismissed? The decision was suppose to have been made for another week, not before I was supposed to have met also with the Panel.."  
  
"I mean dismissed! They took our protest and threw it right out the window without a second thought, and no help to you!" Atlas was furious, he should have known better than to trust matters like this to a politician.  
  
Jihad sighed again, this time out loud. "Some details would be nice..and helpful, if I know what happened, and then maybe I can fix it..."  
  
A snort of bitter laughter from Atlas. "Yeah, I can just see that happening..."  
  
Jihad gritted his teeth for a second; he really, REALLY didn't need this right now, voice changing suddenly, to a cold, frosty tone, "Atlas. Come back tomorrow, bring the paperwork I'm sure they gave you, and we'll scheduled another meeting. These things take time, and I'm sure it can be fixed. And if you don't mind, I have some other important matters to take care of right and I don't need any more problems right at the moment."  
  
Atlas blinked for just a second in surprise, "Excuse me?"  
  
"I said, schedule an appointment with Marci for a time slot tomorrow and we'll work this out. Right now you need to breathe and let me handle this, and get back to work." Jihad steered him towards the door, Marci catching his eye and opening the door wide.  
  
"Mr. Atlas, if you'll come with me for the moment.."  
  
Atlas shrugged Marci off, and looked back towards Jihad, "Fine. Tomorrow."  
  
"Tomorrow." Jihad agreed . .  
*****************  
Jonathon pushed the file across the table to Shunsaku, flipping it open to the first page. It was stats, and a picture, of a young, blue haired girl. Shunsaku frowned and glanced up, "What's this?"  
  
The three were in a small restaurant, having a brunch of sorts, Kenichi at the moment recovering their orders.  
  
"This..this is what Samuel Oshko is willing to pay several thousands for to find. Her name is Basil Madeline Oshko, Samuel Oshko's granddaughter. She disappeared close to two weeks ago in Sweden, and while Swedish authorities have been notified, we do not believe it was a kidnapping. A close friend of Dr. Oshko, Ms. Jizanda Mieeki, disappeared the same time as the girl. We believe they've been traveling together, and must find them, under any circumstances."  
  
The girl looked vaguely familiar.in fact.yes; this was the girl who'd sat across from him on the flight to Metropolis! And she'd said her name was Basil.and that older woman with her must have been Ms. Mieeki. How interesting..  
  
"They're in Metropolis."  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"They're in Metropolis, that girl was on the airplane."  
  
"Really?" There was a hopeful tune in Jonathon's voice as he regarded Shunsaku. "Was there another, older woman, about 5'8, glasses, short ash brown hair with her as well?"  
  
Shunsaku nodded, "The girl had said she was her companion, a doctor of some sorts. Very polite little girl."  
  
"Yes, she would be..so they are in Metropolis? Do you know where? I must be able to speak to Ms. Mieeki as soon as possible, and it is very important that Basil be found."  
  
It was Shunsaku's turn to regard Jonathon calmly, "Why?"  
  
Jonathon blinked quickly, "Pardon?"  
  
"Why is it important that this girl be found so quickly? She seemed to have been in good hands, and if I've done my research correctly, Dr. Mieeki is a partner to the girl's grandfather, right?"  
  
"Yes.quite correct. It's a bit of a complicated, and personal, situation. All we wish it that you can locate Dr. Mieeki and the girl."  
  
"I see."  
*****************************  
Basil was feeling claustrophobic.  
  
The small room was starting to press in on her, and the dim light bulb above did nothing to banish the shadows that hid in the corners. Basil was terrified of the dark, of shadows that lurked; it was a childish fear of the unknown that had never gone away. And now, in the small room, and with the knowledge that even if she pushed, the door would not open, to let her flee from the shadows and the walls pressing in, and with no Jonathon to banish her fears and the shadows away, she'd set her mind to the task of getting past the door. And at the same time she tried to keep from concentrating on how the air seemed to grow thicker, and heavier, and how the space within the room seemed to shrink.  
  
She been too surprised, and puzzled to notice the evening before, but when she'd fallen asleep, it'd been a restless sleep, and with the realization of the shadows, she'd been awake for the rest of the night.  
  
And had finally come to a conclusion that might help. She'd managed to work a thin screw loose from the table stand, and was now trying unsuccessfully to pick the lock on the door. Of course, she had no clue what she was doing, but, try something for long enough and eventually it'll work, right? And it'd worked when Jonathon had been working on something..  
  
After a full morning; or at least her internal clock told her it was late morning, of fiddling with the lock, and still no success, Basil sat back on her heels and frowned disapprovingly at the door.  
  
"I wonder if a bobby pin might have worked better..?"  
  
She glanced around the small room for what seemed like the millionth time. Nothing revealed itself to be of use, for the millionth time. The small girl sighed and turned back towards the door, stupid door..  
  
There had to be another way of getting past it.  
  
Wracking her memory, Basil remembered one incident where a door inside of one of the hangers back home had gotten stuck when one of the hinges had gotten twisted, causing the door to jam. Jonathon had opened the door by shoving into it, using his shoulder. Maybe she could do the same. It didn't look THAT sturdy...  
  
Pulling herself up off the floor, Basil fixed her eyes on a spot that looked likely to break easily, and backing up across the room, gathered her legs under her, and bolted at the door.  
  
Five seconds later, lights flashed in front of her eyes as she smacked into the door with a dull THUD! Bouncing off the much-harder-than-it-looked- door to the floor, she grasped her shoulder for a few moments, gasping at the jarring pain ringing through both her head and shoulder. That HURT!  
  
She knelt on the floor, forehead to the wooden boards, as she waited for the pain to fade to a throb before standing back up again. It didn't open, not even a budge. Staring at the door, Basil bit her bottom lip hard enough for a small trickle of blood to thread out.  
  
At the salty taste of her own blood on her tongue, Basil blinked back into reality. There had to be someway past the door. She just had to keep trying. If only she had something else though, a screw didn't help very much, and she wasn't big enough to get any force against the door.  
  
Wait.  
  
The door swung inwardly.  
  
The hinges were on the INSIDE of the room.  
  
Basil smiled triumphantly as she gingerly picked up the screw back up again, with her other hand this time, and started to work on the screws holding the hinges tight.  
**************  
Jizanda huffed as she stomped into the apartment. That Jihad! Oh, sometimes he could be so much like his brother it just made her want to...to.well...hit something.not the wall though, she'd found out a long time ago the wall is much harder than your hand or foot. What she needed was one of those little stress-rubber-ball-squishy-thingys...  
  
Grabbing several sheets of paper, the doctor sat down at the table in the kitchen, and began scribbling out facts quickly. After a good ten mins, she sat back, and arranged the slips of paper. So, Jihad said he wasn't going to help was he? Well, she could do things just fine on her own..  
  
But first she needed to get her thoughts straight.  
  
She had to find Basil. Jihad had said that it wasn't Dr. Kaybo, which did reassure her. If that man had gotten ahold of the girl, there was no way Jizanda, or even Dr. Oshko make him give her up. Legally, he owned the girl. Unless Dr. Oshko had that angle he'd been hinting about.  
  
Someone had kidnapped the girl, within the two hours that Jizanda had been working. Someone who that man who'd broken in worked for?  
  
Jizanda shoved a panicked feeling roughly back down; don't think about THAT...  
  
Pulling her cell phone from a pocket on her laptop carrier, Jizanda punched in a few numbers quickly.  
  
"Governor Jihad Shov's office, how may I help you?"  
  
"Whom am I speaking with?"  
  
"This is Marci Vossmen speaking."  
  
"Ah, the person I wanted to talk to. This is Dr. Jizanda Mieeki, and I want all of the current files Mr. Shov has requested to be sent to me as well, via email if it would be convenient."  
  
"Ah...pardon ma'am? I don't remember Mr. Shov saying anything.."  
  
"I'm sure he didn't. I'm an associate of his, and we're working on the same situation, and while he probably hasn't mentioned it to you yet, all information must be forwarded to me at once."  
  
"But.of course ma'am, I'll check with him once he's out of his meeting, to make sure."  
  
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME! Now get your fingers working and send me those files! AT ONCE!" Jizanda roared into the phone, almost able to hear the secretary jumped on the other end.  
  
"Yes ma'am! I'll send them right now!"  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Jizanda snapped her cell phone shut with a trace of a smirk, if Jihad wasn't going to help her; she'd just have to go the long way about. And it was so very convenient of him to have all of those files. Connecting to the server, Jizanda quickly downloaded the files, and printed them out; it was always good to have a hard copy of something. After all, she hadn't been the only child of a business monarch for nothing.  
***********************  
Basil grimaced a bit as she balanced perilously on the table-stand to reach the top hinge, using the edge of the screw as a make-shirt screwdriver. Almost had it.she'd gotten the bottom hinges un-screwed, and was working on the last screw of the top hinge.  
  
The screw popped out, falling to the floor below. Basil climbed down carefully from the table stand, and dropping the other screws neatly into a pile next to the door, suddenly realized she wasn't sure what to do now. All that held the door upright now was the doorknob and lock.  
  
Breathing a sigh of relief at the realization she was going to get out of this small room, Basil carefully pushed on the door.  
  
Instead of swinging to the side as she expected however, the door knob ripped out of the wood frame with a loud CRACK! Basil stumbled forward with the door, tripping and falling onto the door as light flooded into the room, not very bright, but enough to counter the waning glow of the single bulb.  
  
It landed with a loud THUD against the other wall in the narrow hallway, Basil slipping to the side and falling next to it with a grunt as she jarred her bruised shoulder. She stumbled to her feet with a struggle, but not with out catching the edge of her shirt on one of hinges, causing the side seam to rip out.  
  
Gazing in dismay at both the door and the rip in her shirt, which now let cold air to breeze in, causing her skin to goose bump, Basil's face crinkled in worry. The door wasn't suppose to have done that either!  
  
But.she was out. Away from the heavy and dead air, from the walls pressing in, and the shadows. She gasped for a second in relief; she didn't have stay within the small confines of the room.  
  
But.what now?  
  
Basil realized she hadn't even thought about what she'd do once out of the room, getting past the door had been her only thought. She clutched the side of her long sleeved shirt together as she frowned a bit in thought.  
  
"What.the.hell..."  
  
Her head jerked up and to the side, to come almost face to face with the youth. His face was almost comical; he looked so surprised, looking alternately from her to the door propped halfway up against the opposite wall.  
  
"I...It.The." Basil scrambled for an explanation in her mind, how do you explain being claustrophobic? "I.I just want out...it was dark.and there were shadows.and the walls."  
  
Rock glanced back from the door, the question of how she'd managed to do...that.pushed aside for a moment as the girl stumbled over her words, her eyes wide and anxious. "What do you mean it was dark; there was a light on in there."  
  
"But.not very bright.." Basil's voice was very meek; he was going to be mad at her now was he? And make her go back in?  
  
Rock rolled his eyes for a second, this kid was aggravating. And now it looked like she'd busted the door, it was going to be difficult keeping an eye on her now that he couldn't keep her in one spot. It was interesting though, the terrified looks she kept casting towards the small room. Was she claustrophobic? Couldn't be, that was too much of a delayed reaction...maybe.  
  
Rock sighed to himself, and mentally shrugged his shoulders. Damn, it looked like he was stuck with the kid for a while now. Giving the girl a quick glare, he motioned towards where she was holding her shirt, with a slightly impatient tone in his voice, "What happened?"  
  
"My shirt ripped.on one of the hinges, when it fell.over." The hinges..Rock leaned over the door for a closer inspection. She'd unscrewed the hinges. Damn. She might be meek, but the girl was full of surprises.  
  
He stood up again, and glanced quickly at her shirt were she held it. Hmm. Disappearing for a second into another room, much to the girl's surprise, he reappeared a second later, tossing a shirt at her.  
  
Pointing down towards the end of the small hallway, "Bathroom's over there, you can change into that. Do it quickly." As the girl quickly moved in the direction he pointed her towards, Rock lifted the door back upright again, maneuvering it back into the doorframe. Resting it against the doorframe for a moment, Rock flipped out a small Swish army knife, and screwed the hinges back in, after finding them in a neat little pile just inside the door. There was nothing he could do about the doorknob however.  
  
The girl returned and waited silently outside the room as he did this, now dressed in the button down shirt which hung a bit loosely on her petite frame.  
  
Making sure that door was secure enough it wouldn't fall over again, Rock put his pocket knife back, and glanced over at the girl whom stood silently watching him. Well, he'd just have to make the best of this new development. In fact, he should question the girl a bit, and see if he could get any information about her, and hopefully Governor Jihad.  
  
"Com'on." He motioned for her to follow him out the small hallway, which ended by entering into a larger room, with a small living room to one end, and a kitchen in another corner, fenced off by counters and overhead cabinets. A small hallway ended with another door, to outside Basil assumed.  
  
"You want some water, or something?" Rock asked as he motioned for the girl to sit at a small table near a window covered with wooden shutters. "Yes.please." She nodded, glancing about the room. An older version TV sat in one corner against a wall, an old stuffed couch sat across from the TV. A small futon was in one corner, and a braided rug settled for the rest of the living room furnishing.  
  
Sliding a glass of water across the table to the blue-haired girl, and taking a seat himself across from her, there was a moment of silence before Rock began his questions.  
  
"So, how are you related to Governor Shov?"  
  
The girl glanced up, and tilted her head to the side, a slightly confused look on her face. "I'm not. I think he's Ms. Mieeki's brother-in-law though.."  
  
Okay then. "Are you related to her then?"  
  
The girl shook her head again, "no, not really. Ms. Mieeki's one of my guardians."  
  
Rock raised an eyebrow, "Guardians?" Basil nodded, her bangs bobbing up and down, "Yes, her, Mr. Kaybo and Grandpa."  
  
"Who's your grandfather?"  
  
"Samuel Oshko." Now interested, Basil ventured some information, "He lives in Sweden, and I've lived with him all of my life. This is my first time out of Sweden."  
  
Samuel Oshko.the name rung no bells. But Rock made a mental note to check up on that later. It wasn't particularly good news that she wasn't related to Jihad Shov, in some way she was Jizanda's charge, so she might pressure Jihad into cooperating. He glanced across the table, towards the girl. She was becoming more and more comfortable around him already, something he really wasn't sure he liked, but it did make it easier to get the kid to talk. Speaking of which. "How old are you?"  
  
She paused for a moment, glancing towards the ceiling. "I turned 15 in August.."  
  
So she was a little older than he'd thought; the childish demeanor and the big grey eyes had thrown him off. Very large, soft grey eyes..which were now fixed on him, with a questioning look. "Can I ask a question?"  
  
"...one."  
  
"Why do you have a gun?"  
  
Poor Rock just about face-faulted. Of all the questions.. "What?!"  
  
She blinked in surprise, "I was just curious, I've never seen one before, except for a week ago, and ..guns aren't very nice..?" She trailed off, tilting her head to the side again, a gesture he was learning she did when puzzled.  
  
Rock just gave her another dirty look from behind his sunglasses, either the girl had been very sheltered most of her life, or wasn't on the upper IQ level of the population.  
  
Basil was waiting for an answer to her question however, she'd been very polite about answering his, and she was curious about that.if she waited long enough, he'd answer, Jonathon always did...  
  
And evidently Rock was no expectation..giving the wide eyed girl another glare, he answered, "I carry a gun around so I can shoot annoying little girls who ask stupid questions."  
  
Another blink from Basil. "Really?"  
  
"I said ONE question!"  
  
"Oh..sorry.."  
  
Rock sighed to himself once again, with exasperation. Rising to his feet, he grabbed his coat and hat off the back of another chair. Basil rose to her feet as well, falling into step behind him as he opened the door.  
  
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Rock realized she was following him, and tried to shove her back into the room, "You stay here! I mean it!"  
  
"But where are you going?"  
  
"I've got to make a call and it's none of your business, now get back in there!"  
  
"But I want to come!"  
  
Rock rolled his eyes upwards.of all the people out there, he had to kidnap a socially dependent one.  
  
"You can't. Now stay here before I get irritated and lock you back up again."  
  
The girl's eyes widened with a trace of panic, but she stayed where she stood. "Please? I'll be quite..and I'll stay right behind you...please?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Please?"  
  
Oh hell..Feeling exasperated with both himself and Basil, Rock shrugged for a moment in defeat, "Whatever. Stay right with me, and if you try and make a run for it, I'll blow your head off. Got it?"  
  
Basil's whole face perked up completely as she nodded quickly, "Yes!" and trotted up next to him, face now set with a happy smile.  
  
A few moments later Rock was silently cursing himself for having given into the girl's wishes and letting her tag along. Now he had to go about the back way, trying to keep for the most part out of the main crowds, or anyone who might remember a young girl and young man walking about together. Basil on the other hand seemed very happy, even though she had to walk twice as fast to keep up with his longer stride. Her eyes were wide as she looked about, glance darting from some place to another.  
  
Basil rejoiced in the warm light, and while the air certainly wasn't as nice and crisp as the air back in Sweden, she thought with a crinkle of her nose, it certainly was much better than the air in the room! And she was outside again!  
*****************  
Rock pushed a few coins into the coins slot on the phone, and punched in the phone number quickly.  
  
It rang once, twice. Before the third ring, it was picked up on the other end, "Hello, You have reached the offices of Governor Shov, what can I do for you?" It was a secretary.  
  
"I'd like to speak with the Governor."  
  
"Of course, may I ask who'd calling?"  
  
"Just tell him it's about something important. He'll know."  
  
A few seconds later, and the line was picked up again on the other end, a cold, crisp voice speaking. "Hello, Governor Shov."  
  
"Governor, how are you?"  
  
"Cut the small talk, and get to the point."  
  
"Impatient, aren't we Governor? I'm just calling to see if you've been holding up your end of the bargain."  
  
"How do I get the information to you? And when will Basil be returned...Alive.."  
  
"A little paranoid? That's smart Governor. If you have the information, although I'll be a little surprised and impressed if you've managed to compile it all by now, I'll give you a drop box to deposit the information, on disk if you please, and I'll return Basil to you."  
  
"We don't have the information.not yet." Jihad's voice was cold and unassuming, although his next remark did have a trace of grim amusement in it, "It's not very easy information to track down, as I'm sure you know."  
  
"Yes, I can guess. You have two days left to find it however, before the deadline, and the girl's life, is up."  
  
"Speaking of which, how do I know she's still alive? For all I know, you could have killed her already, and just be pushing us for information. Put her on the line, if you please, I want to talk to her."  
  
"I think I'm the one making demands in this situation governor, but I suppose I could give you that." Rock was suddenly relived that the girl had come along; otherwise this might have been difficult.  
  
Waving to the girl, who was standing a few feet away studying some brickwork, Rock motioned her over.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
Covering the receiver with his hand, Rock gave her a few quick instructions, "Here, say something quick, just a "Hi Governor" and bye, nothing more, understand?"  
  
After the girl nodded, Rock handed the phone receiver to her.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Basil?"  
  
"Hi Mr. Jihad!..........Hey!" Basil yelped in protest as Rock jerked the phone away from her, hissing at her, "What the Hell was that?!"  
  
"Um.I said hello, like you said..." Basil was confused again.  
  
"But not in a happy perky voice like that! You sounded like you were on a happy little picnic for God's sake! Not kidnapped!"  
  
".....I'm kidnapped?......"  
  
Rock just about face-faulted again, "What planet are you on?! No kidding you're kidnapped, what did you think the knocking you out, locking you in a room, and not letting you go home was?! A Game?!"  
  
"But...kidnappers are mean and scary looking...and you're really only crabby.and kindda weird sometimes." Rock felt like banging his head on some hard, he just couldn't believe this. Of all the people in the world, he got stuck kidnapping this one. Someone up there was punishing him.  
  
Basil meanwhile was staring at him yet again with a puzzled look, absorbing this new information. It made sense now, of course, but in the books she'd managed to beg Jonathon to let her read, kidnappers were always really creepy men, and lots of them, and usually they tied the victim up in a warehouse. And Rock'd kept Mari White from shooting her, and while he had locked her in the small room by herself, and been crabby, he hadn't been that mean.....he had given her food, and let her wear one of his shirts, and let her come along, and out of the room. Interesting..  
  
Rock'd regained his senses meanwhile, with an irritated look, "Look, just say something into the phone, try and sound miserable, okay?"  
  
Basil blinked, coming out of her thoughts, "but how do I sound miserable.OOWWW! That HURT!" She rubbed her shoulder where he'd grabbed her, right on the bruise she'd gotten earlier from her encounter with the door.  
  
Rock took the phone from her with a satisfied look.  
  
A puzzled Jihad was on the other end. "What just happened?"  
  
"None of your concern. As you can tell, she's alive and.well. just have the information in two days." Rock hung up the phone before Jihad could respond. With an exasperated sighed, he turned towards a pouting Basil whom was still rubbing her shoulder. She glared, or at least tried to, at him, "That was mean!"  
  
"Well, at least now I'm acting like a kidnapper, hmm?"  
  
Rock took off at a brisk walk, Basil hesitated for a moment, thinking, but then hurried to catch up with him before he noticed.  
**********************  
Jizanda rubbed her forehead for a few moments, she had her things packed, and had booked a room at a nearby classy hotel, charging it to Jihad's credit card of course, and had called a cab a few moments ago to meet her by the street-level lobby.  
  
She had done a quick cleanup of the large apartment however, Basil and she had been guests, and it was very rude to leave a mess behind, even if you were so very mad at your host. Taking one last glance about, and making sure her laptop was secured in its stuffed leather case, she slipped her copy of the keys out of her pocket; she'd lock the door, and leave the keys with the desk.  
  
She opened the door, bags tucked under her uninjured arm, and almost bumped right into Jonathon Hunter, who had been poised to knock.  
  
"Oh G-.." Backing up a few steps to regain her balance, Jizanda dropped a couple bags, "For heaven's sake, Jonathon, don't DO things like that! I almost had a heart attack..and..how did you get here?" she trailed off, a puzzled frown appearing on her face.  
  
With a rueful smile, Jonathon remarked quietly, "I'm sorry Ms. Mieeki, for any fright I gave you."  
  
She waved her hand absent mindedly, "No, no problem, I suppose my heart can take one more surprise, but you didn't answer my question, what are you doing here? And how?"  
  
Jonathon paused for a moment, "Those papers that Dr. Oshko was so worried about were recovered. We apparently have nothing to worry about from that revenue. And I found out where you were residing thanks to a Mr. Shunsaku Ban, the detective Dr. Oshko hired a while back. And, if I might, what happened to you and Basil? We were all more than a little puzzled when you two disappeared, and after Mr. Kaybo had said you shot him. "  
  
Jizanda frowned for a second, "That jerk. Trying to turn that around as if it was my fault." She huffed, glaring at a spot on that wall.  
  
"Ah...ma'am?"  
  
"Oh...right." Glancing down at the bags, Jizanda sighed and picked them up, "I have a cab probably waiting down by the lobby, I'll tell you about it as we walk."  
  
"Would you like to carry some of those ma'am?" Jonathon took the bags from Jizanda, although she kept a tight hold on her laptop. "Oh, thank you." The two took off at a brisk walk, as Jizanda continued, "I suppose Kaybo would try and turn it around on me, he was rather nervous about something."  
  
"Nervous?"  
  
"Nervous enough that he was willing to destroy, or at least immobilized her. He had the blue prints up the wall screen, and was running through them, and some of the older documents when I came in that night."  
  
"Blueprints? Which ones?"  
  
"Your section I believe, the ones dealing with how she connected to the computers? And some of the machine ones, but not a trace of the bio- blueprints. I remember thinking that was odd, since we always work with those at hand."  
  
"It is odd...where is Basil, by the way?"  
  
Jonathon glanced over at the older woman as she paused in step. "Dr. Mieeki?.....Jizanda?"  
  
Her voice was harsh as she spoke, "Thanks to Jihad, my little brother-in- law, Basil was kidnapped in a scheme of some sorts. And now Jihad has said he won't cooperate, to get her back."  
  
"W...What?" Jonathon sputtered for a moment, "Kidnapped?! How.wha...we can't just let that happen!"  
  
Jizanda regarded him calmly from behind her glasses, "I never said I wasn't trying to do something."  
  
"No...Dr. Mieeki, we need help on this! Neither of us has any experience with this sort of thing! And who knows whose holding the girl hostage." Jonathon paused for a second, frowning, "we can't contact the police, of course, there's still that warrant out for you, and.there could be some uncomfortable question that might arise about.her..no, I think I have an idea though."  
  
"Really?" The older woman raised an eyebrow skeptically.  
  
"Yes." Nodding energetically, Jonathon continued, "A little while back Dr. Oshko hired a detective, and coincidently, he happens to be in Metropolis right now. I think he might help us."  
  
Jizanda nodded slowly, "I suppose that might work."  
  
They were in the lobby now, among other people, which silently indicated both of them to stop talking about the subject at hand. But before exiting the door, Jizanda had one last question.  
  
"Jonathon?"  
  
"Yes ma'am?"  
  
"I'm a bit interested that you would take my word about this whole affair over Dr Kaybo's."  
  
"Ah..Um...I..er..."  
  
Jizanda casted an amused look at the suddenly very red and stammering Jonathon before sliding into the backseat of the cab.  
**********************  
"Do I have to go back into that room?" Basil's voice was very meek. She'd been quite ever since they'd returned, and all through the short dinner Rock'd provided.  
  
He glanced up from what he was working on, "what?"  
  
"Do...I have to be locked up again.in that room?" She had a very uncomfortable expression on her face, and fidgeted with her hands, looking at the ground, looking like for all the world like someone about to be sent off to the guillotine.  
  
Rock considered it for a brief second, she had been annoying and exasperating this afternoon..but she hadn't tried to escape, and he really wasn't up to having to worrying about her somehow breaking down, or getting out of that room again, he had enough of a headache as it was.  
  
Sitting back in the chair, he regarded her for a moment. "If you stay put, and QUITE, you can stay out here. But the moment you make a wrong movement, or start up with that annoying stuff again, in ya go."  
  
Relief flooded through the girl's face as she glanced up to met his gaze. Bounding into his lap, Basil threw her arms his neck, happily chirping, "Thank you! I'll be really really quite!"  
  
"What the HELL..GET OFF!"  
  
After the initial heart attack and rush of compete surprise, Rock jerked violently backwards away from her, causing the chair they both now occupied to obey the laws of Gravity, tipping over, both explaining a bit in surprise as they tumbled over backwards to the floor.  
  
Between the hard jar of landing smack on his back, and the girl landing on top of him, Rock laid stunned for a few seconds, before roughly shoving Basil off, and stumbled to his feet, holding onto the edge of the table for some support. The girl was up on her feet a few moments later, looking at him in puzzlement, she'd never known anyone to react anywhere as violently as he had when hugged. Or thanked. She wasn't sure which.  
  
"Don't you EVER do that again." Rock managed to growl once he got his voice back, "Stay over there, and keep your hands to yourself!"  
  
"But.."  
  
"NO! Just.turn the TV on or something.."  
  
The girl just looked at him with confusion, but did as he said, quietly walking over and sitting down in front of the old TV, flipping it on and turned it down low. She kept glancing back at him however, clearly puzzled.  
  
Sitting back down to the table, Rock began wondering how in the world he'd managed to get himself into this. It wasn't the last time he'd think that in the next couple days. He avoided the girl's glances back towards him, and offered no explanation. He didn't really have one, aside from the fact he didn't want the girl getting too comfortable, after, he was suppose to be her kidnapper, not her little buddy...damn kid. Too friendly, way too touchy. There was a good side to that however, she was far too socially dependent upon having other people around in unfamiliar situations and places to go off on her own and try and escape. At least, for now.  
  
The TV was a soothing background noise, and he slowly began to unwind, the adrenaline rush subsiding as silence for the most part settled over the room.  
*******************  
Sitting back in the chair and stretching, Rock realized how late it was getting. He was use to all-nighters, but for now, it would probably be good to get some sleep. Glancing over, he noticed the girl curled up on the floor, asleep in front of the TV.  
  
Rising to his feet, and quickly checking and locking the door to outside the apartment, Rock returned, flipping the TV off.  
  
He paused for a moment, wondering what to do with the now sleeping girl, he couldn't put her back in the small bedroom of the hallway, since the door was now broken, and he would much rather be able to keep an eye on the kid, and not worry what surprise she was going to come up with next. With a mental shrug, he knelt over, scooped up the limp form, and carried her over to the overstuffed couch a couple of feet away, unceremoniously plopping her down. Pulling a blanket down from a top self in the hall closet, he carelessly draped it over the sleeping form, and collapsed on the futon. Dragging the pillow over his head, Rock was asleep in moments.  
  
And awake again in 15 mins as the futon groaned under the added weight of another body. Rock groaned to himself as he felt a body burrow down under the blankets, curling up in a tight ball against his back. Sitting up, he glared down at the half asleep figure.  
  
"What are you doing now?"  
  
"It's cold..and dark..." The girl murmured as she pulled the covers closer to block the cold air.  
  
"You lived in Sweden, it's always cold there. Suck it up, and get back on the couch..oh come on now!" She was asleep now, the blankets pulled up to the tip of her nose. Rock sighed to himself and with a grimace, shoved the girl towards the edge of the futon, away from him, and flopped back down with and exasperated sigh.  
  
But a few moments later, just as he almost drifted off, the girl was curled up against his back again. "Little heat leech." he muttered, before giving up on the whole situation, and pulled the pillow back over his head again.  
**********************  
Some light flittered carefully through the shuttered on the windows on the opposite wall, causing Rock to blink for a few minuets groggily. Propping himself up on his elbows, he glanced over for a moment at the kid.  
  
She was still sound asleep, curled in a tight ball next to him, small petite body rising and falling with each quite breath, buried underneath the blankets. Her face was turned away from him, long blue hair spreading out in a flood about her head.  
  
Hmph. Stupid kid.  
  
Not really a kid though. Just shrimpy for her age, and evidently too oblivious, or sheltered, to have any real clue about the world. Or innocent. Like a young child, with a bit too much of a trusting nature.  
  
It was in a way too bad she'd never have a chance to grow up. He'd have to kill her of course, once he got the information from Jihad, he couldn't allow her to back, she could end throwing a wrench in his plans by staying alive, alive to question, and to answer. There was an unfamiliar faint wrench of pity in his self-conscious for the girl however; it was always annoying trying to kill people who gave you that look out of large, trusting eyes.  
  
She would get in his way though, and nothing, nothing must stand between him and his personal mission.  
**********************  
Notes: thank goodness, that's it! Chapter nine shouldn't be so long in coming as chapter eight was. Please let me know what you thought about this chapter, and please have pity on me, I'm trying to keep them all in character, but they have minds of their own I swear. Eh. Anyways, please comment, and I hope you enjoyed! ^_^ and thank you to everyone who has comment so far, you guys are the coolest! 


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